Sweet Vara James

This is a story I photographed in 2017 about Vara, a 10 year old girl from Ann Arbor, MI. At this time, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Wilms Tumor, a type of cancer that starts in the kidneys and is the most common type of kidney cancer in children. I was drawn to her story because I have had my own experience with cancer, when my cousin Elisa was diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumor in 2008. She was 34 years old when she passed away from a seizure and I regretted not doing more since she's been gone. 

With that, I decided it was time to face my own fears about cancer and tell a story from the front lines. Vara and her mother Emily were eager to share their story with a goal of raising awareness about this disease, which is largely ignored by the pharmaceutical industry. Only 4% of government oncology research grants go into childhood cancer, and in the past 20 years only three drugs specifically developed to treat children have been approved.

The photos tell the story of Vara’s experience going through treatment with the intention of spreading awareness of childhood cancer.