Raising Money For Cancer

I felt terrible when I arrived at the Mennard house for their shoot. Mark, in grade 7, had just lost his grandmother to cancer and his mother Judy had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Instead of wallowing, which would have been understandable, Mark decided to do something positive. He's organizing a fundraising event called "Minor Hockey Fights Cancer".

Sometimes these shoots can be difficult because you can feel intrusive when a family's going through a difficult time but the Mennard family was extremely upbeat and friendly. This was especially notable considering that our photo shoot had ruined plans for a nice family night out for dinner (that had already been rescheduled once) and Mark was hobbling around with a cast on his leg.

Mark was polite, but not shy, and relaxed in front of the camera, which made it a great shoot. He showed me some stellar ball hockey skills - his cast didn't seem to be holding him back at all.

And just for the record - I did NOT force Mark to go out and play ball hockey with his cast for the shoot. He's the one who suggested it. I'm not heartless.