Melissa Howell is a Mile High Mama and professional photographer who specializes in children’s portrait photography. She services the greater Denver metro area and her work can be seen at Blue Prints Photography and www.blueprintsphotography.blogspot.com/.

He didn’t know he had only seven months left to live. He just knew that he had cancer and he was dying. So he spent every moment he could with his wife and family–at least all the moments when he wasn’t sick from the chemo. Every once in a while, there would be encouraging signs–a good blood count, more energy after a treatment. We wondered if there would be a miracle–if he would beat the odds and defeat the disease that was ravaging his body. He wrote about his experience on his blog. The last entry he made told us that they had reached the “best response” with his chemo, and that protocol was to do two more treatments. And then suddenly, he was gone. The next entry was made by his wife, telling us of his passing. Matthew Neil Budge was only 36 years old and leaves behind his wife and six young children.

As an extended family member, I wondered what I could do to help. Praying is good. Being an answer to prayers is better. As a professional photographer, I decided I could donate a portion of each session fee to their family fund which has been set aside for the education of their children. As you can imagine, future college tuition for six children will require a lot of money. What I can contribute won’t help a lot, but perhaps it can provide some hope for the future. It can send a message to this family that people care for them, and more importantly, that God is answering their prayers through the generosity of others.

If you’d like to schedule a photo session with me, please go to www.blueprintsphotography.com for my contact information. (As a side note, I also took pictures of Hurricane Hadley–Amber’s daughter–and you can see some of my favorites by going to my blog and perusing my older posts. The blog address is http://blueprintsphotography.blogspot.com/). If you’d like to donate directly to the family, you can go to their personal blog at http://matthewbudge.blogspot.com/ and click on the “Donate” button.