Brittany's Gift to Her Parents

Do you remember my good friend Brittany? I ran the Boston Marathon (this year I will be running the New York City) in her honor earlier this year and to help raise money for her disease, NBIA (extremely rare and incurable). Read here to learn more or to make a donation!

Brittany and I have started a Christmas tradition where we secretly plan a special gift from her to her parents. You see, Brittany doesn't have the ability to get out and go shopping for her most wonderful parents. But I know she still wants to give...

This year, my lovely friend (and photographer extraordinaire), Jean, came to me with an offering of her services. We decided we would sneak over to Brittany's house and have a secret photo shoot!

You may think this would be an easy process. It was NOT easy but man did we have fun. I first had to ask Brittany if she wanted to even participate (since she was the model and all). After getting a "yes (this is done by Brittany putting her little hand over to her right knee...that means yes)," the preparations began.

She first needed a new outfit, perfect for the shoot. I went over to Justice and picked out three complete outfits. While her parents were out, I showed her all three...she chose her favorite one.

Then came the hard part...when could we find a time to sneak over?! You see, Brittany is fed her meals through a tube..it takes 2-3 hours...(we didn't want a tube in the feeding for this model)!

And...between numerous doctor appointments, physical therapy, it was next to impossible to coordinate this small frame of time with Jean's schedule (and with Sommer too...she was our hair and make-up artist for the shoot).

After finding exactly ONE hour that fit everyone's schedule, we waited until both mom and dad were out. Brittany's nurses let us in and the secret photo shoot began. The new outfit was put on, hair was curled and styled and a little make-up applied.

We all lifted, positioned and helped get Brittany ready for Jean to take the perfect picture.

And did she ever. Here are our favorites!

I requested Jean take a picture of Brittany's feet. To read the post I wrote earlier this year about her sweet feet click here.

Merry Christmas to the Leap Family!

I know many of you took advantage of Jean's talents (and hip price) over the Christmas holiday.  There were others that were not able to snag one of here last appointments. She has graciously offered to extend this special rate through the month of January! 

You can email Jean

allenjm@gwu.edu