Sweet Rielyn--Hands Up Charity Event for a very special girl!

This post is a very special one. Meet Rielyn--a very sweet, special (and busy!) baby girl! Rielyn has profound hearing loss--this means she most likely hears nothing. Several months shy of her first birthday, Rielyn's mom and dad noticed that she was not responding to noises or verbal communication as she should, and sure enough, tests confirmed their fears. The awesome news is that Rielyn is a candidate for cochlear implants! The bad news? Insurance will pay for only ONE. The estimated cost for the other is anywhere between $45,000.00 to $80,000.00. Outrageous!

I wanted to do a photoshoot of Rielyn to capture her sweet little smile and show the world that this is profound hearing loss looks like. You can't see it or touch it, but it exists. Imagine going through life not being able to hear music, laughter, your mother or father or siblings' voices. The purpose of this blog post is to raise awareness regarding profound hearing loss, tell Rielyn's story and spread the word about a charity event being held in her honor.

If you are local, please consider attending this entertaining event presented by H.A.N.D.S. U.P.: Holiday Magic at Cape Harbour on Friday, November 20th from 7pm-10pm. There will be live entertainment, FREE pictures w/ Santa, an appearance by Miss US Continental, raffles etc. Admission is free, so please stop by and help raise some money for Rielyn! If you do not live locally and would like to make a donation (any little bit helps!) OR learn more about Rielyn, please visit her website.

And without further adieu, here is sweet Rielyn!



I'd love to know what she is thinking here! Notice the tongue...

And the tongue again...


And yet again!