Day 62 (Fri., July 30)

This is why I love this career. It gives me the chance to see life up close and personal. After yesterday's slap on the face, today seemed like the perfect continuation as I was sent out on a great assignment. Perhaps the best assignment of my life. I had to illustrate an organ donor story. First, I went out to talk to Rebecca Moreno, who in 1998 was in a car accident with two of her four children. Her oldest daughter, Maria, died in the accident. She was 15. Rebecca was in a comma for three months. She woke up and shortly after her 13-year-old son committed suicide as he could not handle the pain of the loss of his sister. The mother of the children agreed to donate the organs of the two kids and it has proven to be a great gift as patients have successfully received transplants. She is pictured next with her son Louis, who was just five when he was in the accident.

This assignment was tough. I had to take photos of the two survivors without being heartless as the media usually tends to be. I had a great time talking to Louis and Rebecca about the situation and they could not be any more helpful by agreeing to answer all my questions. I learned that you can always make a good thing, even when it's coming as a result of a tragedy. Later, I went to illustrate the other side of the story. I had to find Carlee, a 5-year-old little girl from Dallas who had a heart transplant three years ago. Carlee is seen jumping from a trampoline to another on the first photo of today's journal entry.

When I knocked on Carlee's door, her dad, Lupe, came out and she followed. I introduced myself and tried to shake Carlee's hand. However, she was very shy and she did not shake my hand. Instead, she ran out to the front yard and headed for the jungle gym. I knew it was going to be a tough time shooting her as she was very timid and shy. That's when the little kid in me came out. I rushed over to her and made small talk with her. We talked about the previous rain and all the mud it created. We talked about the jungle gym. We even talked about cartoons. Needless to say, she became real relaxed and I was able to point the camera at her without having her freeze. I crawled in under the four-foot tall jungle gym and she showed me tricks. I took photos of that and I told her it was great that I was able to play in the mud again since being an adult doesn't give me the time to do so anymore. The following two photos are from the jungle gym. The very first photo on the entry shows her jumping on the trampoline. I thought this photo was very symbolic. She had a heart transplant when she was 1 years old. She pretty much jumped from one life to another and if you were to see her now, you wouldn't have guessed. She is so lively and she is so hyper and the traits of the bad little heart she used to have are gone.

Finally, I went to shoot some soccer at the Cotton Bowl. Now, if you remember the Day 52 entry, I was slatted to shoot the Alejandra Guzman concert tonight. However, because of the injuries to my boss and the fact that Sharon had been working for almost two weeks straight, I was forced to give up the concert and focus on something else. Apparently I am a better action sports photographer than a concert photographer, so I was bumped from the show and sent to the sidelines. Either way, I was happy to know I was contributing to Al Dia at such an awkward time. How can I complain? I shot Monterrey vs. Toluca soccer from the Mexican Pro Soccer League.

Yesterday-Main-Tomorrow