Our good friends Gary and Vasilke have a 19 month old son (Elijah) who is battling brain cancer right now. I spent the day photographing at a benefit held for Elijah at Gary's workplace, Bogart's Motorsports, here in Birmingham. My boyfriend, Oteil, was able to get a band together with members of Rollin in the Hay and we were able to raise money through a silent auction, a benefit motorcycle ride and donations. Because Gary has been out of work for a month and Elijah has been in and out of the hospital for over 4 weeks now with surgeries, blood transfusions and chemotherapy, you can imagine that their bills are sky high.. but I really feel like everybody pulled together today to help out this little family. I couldn't be more pleased to have been apart of it. Above are pictures of Gary and Elijah. Elijah loves to pick at Gary's fingernails. After his first surgery, Elijah woke up from his anesthesia and melted his dad's heart from doing just that.....
If anyone is interested in hearing Elijah's story or donating to the Elijah Seritt Assistance Fund, please check out the page on Bogart's website: (& kudos to the owner of Bogarts, Bryson, for matching all donations made!)
http://www.bogartsmotorsports.com/event_calendar.asp
