Stephanie Klein Photography

Cancer didn’t win.  Not this time.

Lilli Trippe joined the ranks of the most beautiful of Heaven’s angels this morning.  She took her last breath in her parents’ arms in the early hours of the day, just days shy of her 4th birthday.

Cancer may have riddled her little body, but it sure didn’t dampen her spirit.  Nor her spunk.  It didn’t stand a darn chance against the multitudes of those who loved and cared for her.  And it most definitely didn’t win.

Tears fall as I type this, her loving parents etched foremost in my mind.  But the tears carry some element of relief as well, that the pain and discomfort is long forgotten.  That years of treatment, chemotherapy, doctors, IV’s and MRIs have been traded for the amazing glories of an eternity with Jesus.

With hundreds of friends and family members across the nation praying, thousands upon thousands of visits to her Caring Bridge site, and blue bracelets worn proudly, there’s no doubt that love won in this case.  Love that shifts gears just ever so slightly, from lifting up a sick child in prayer, to standing behind her grieving parents as they say goodbye to her on this earth, and wait for the joyous day that they’ll be reunited together.

Heaven wins.  We win, for knowing this amazing girl.  Tears come and “why” questions linger…but there is no doubt that this sweet girl’s life will prevail in the hearts of so many that love Lilli.  And that her legacy has just begun.

Thank you, friends, for your support of the Trippe family, and for your prayers for Lilli.  There are many of you that booked sessions throughout July in support of Lilli.  Yes, those will still take place.  And yes, 100% of the session fee will continue to go straight to the Trippe family.

Please continue to lift up Kristin and Aaron, Lilli’s parents, as they navigate their next steps together.  They’ve got an angel watching over them.

With love,

Stephanie

Photo taken October 2010, at the Masquerade Ball for the Chelsea Hicks Foundation.

I sometimes wish that I didn’t have to pray for things that are tough.   Or figure out how to word a blog post that isn’t exactly so easy to write.

But then again, without these things, we wouldn’t know Lilli.

So I’ll take it.  I’ll pray for a daughter that is the same age as one of my own.  An only child, with enough personality and spunk for an entire clan.  I’ll pray for parents that are stronger than any army, fighting a battle that rivals any war.  For relatives and friends that are uniting across the country, lifting up voices from their knees for a little girl who means the world to them.

I met Lilli back in the Fall at a healthier time, at the Masquerade Ball for the Chelsea Hicks Foundation.  Her mom spoke on behalf of what the foundation had done for their daughter to bring some laughter and healing into the stark halls of a hospital, their home away from home.  Diagnosed with leukemia at 8 months, she’s bravely fought this fight for the last three years with spunk and determination.

Lilli needs our prayers now more than ever.  She was rushed back to Doernbecher by air ambulance this last weekend after she became too ill en route to see family and take a vacation at Disney World.  Upon their return, they discovered that the leukemia was back in her bone marrow.

For any new portrait session booked in June (and can take place anytime now through the end of July), 100% of all session fees will be donated to Lilli’s family to help cover medical expenses.  The emergency air ambulance to bring her back to Portland was denied coverage by her insurance, so every dollar from any new session will go directly to her family.  Sessions are all-inclusive with a disc of your images, so your support goes straight to Lilli.

There are a lot of people in costume at this Masquerade Ball, but I think you’ll recognize whom we pray for.  They’d be eternally grateful, if you might pray for her as well.