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On October 29, Phoenix Children's Hospital in Arizona confirmed to Ashley Jewett and her family that her daughter Madi had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood. At the age of 5, Madi is among the 20% of children with leukemia in whom a specific diagnosis of AML was specifically diagnosed. The latter is known to metastasize quickly and require a rigorous and equally aggressive treatment.
Two weeks after the start of treatment, Madi began to experience hair loss. As she was losing her hair, she realized how different she was from the ones she knew and loved, her mother told HuffPost. After making the decision to cut her hair completely, Madi asked her mother, her father and other people who had supported her to do it in a particular way: by joining her to shave head to match his new style. They accepted with joy.
"I wanted her to know that it was not fair," Ashley told HuffPost. "And I wanted her to inspire others to go through this."
Madi's mother and her father, Chris, her grandfather and her little brother also shaved their heads. The results were captured in a series of photos of the photographer Alicia Atkins who became viral on Facebook
Madi's disease is a test for Ashley, who has to deal with an aspect of parenting she did not expect.
"I could be angry. I could be angry – and those emotions too – but be there for her and show her strength, that's why we did it, "she said. "And she feels so much better looking at me and seeing me being the same as her. It gives me the feeling that I can do something for her. "
There has been a wave of support since the series of photos went live. The original message, published by the photographer, has been shared nearly 12,000 times and his comments are counted in the thousands.
Atkins, who has already photographed similar situations in the past, said the beauty of filming like Madi's is made possible by his willfully vulnerable subjects.
"It's not my story," she says. "It's their life, and all I can do is stay there and capture the moments that are happening in front of me."
Despite Madi's initial nervousness about the shaving of the head and direction of filming, Atkins said the five-year-old could feel the support she had received.
"She has never been alone," she says.
Ashley insists that the tradition of support will continue for many years.
"I know she's going to get out of it," she said. "And I know that when she's older, we'll look back in the process and see that her family was there to support and support her at every step."
A GoFundMe campaign was launched on behalf of Madi. See here.
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