People struggling with a serious illness aren't always keen to have their picture taken, but a new project uses photography to celebrate some very brave patients and survivors.
With the turn of each page, there’s another story of inspiration and hope.
Jackie Murray is a cancer survivor.
“It's part of my journey of dealing with cancer and how I move forward, and how I deal with it,” she says. “Because I feel I've gotten sick with this disease for a reason.”
Through the photos and words in this book, Jackie shares her battle with breast cancer.
It’s a fight she took on with family and friends by her side, including some new friends made at her cancer support centre.
“I come here because I feel good,” she says. “I can be myself but I laugh here. I have fun. I've met some wonderful members who are going through cancer.”
At the centre it’s a cancer support community with yoga classes, wigs to borrow, and friendship.
Everyone there has a story. And now those stories will shared through the book Hope Lives Here.
“There's a lot of hope that exists at the centre and our members are full of strength and full of courage and I wanted to share that with the rest of the community,” says Anna Hartman at the Georgian Bay Cancer Support Centre.
She’s the centre’s executive director, and has teamed up with local photographer Kelly Moss.
Together they're sharing Jackie's story, and the stories of 10 others affected by cancer.
“In that process of speaking with them and making the connection, and allowing a little bit of the vulnerability to come from both sides, I can usually visualize an image and a way of shooting a portrait,” says Moss. “And we work with it from there.”
Not only will the book provide comfort, and truth to what some are going through, it's also going to give back to the cancer centre it's inspired by.
More than 500 copies ofHope Lives Here have been published and already more than 100 copies have sold.
The hope is every single one of these books will sell with every dollar going to support the centre.
