Monday, November 4, 2013

Katie Hanlon Turns Talent into Gift


West Virginia Administrative Assistant Katie Hanlon has many passions and past times, one of which is photography.  She is well known in the Bridgeport area for her talent as a photographer and is often asked to snap just a few pictures of friends’ children for their Christmas card.  For the second year, Katie turned her talent into a gift for a family in need.

Katie’s cousin Tori, who is just a few weeks older than Katie’s daughter Charlie, was born with biliary atresia.  Biliary atresia is a life-threatening condition that affects only 1 in 18,000 infants in which the bile ducts inside or outside the liver do not have normal openings.  This summer Tori had to undergo not one but TWO liver transplants!  Her mother had to quit her job to care for Tori, and Katie says the family has “basically been living in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for months.”

Hitting so close to home, Katie imagined what the mounting bills must be like for Tori’s family and decided to do something about it by collecting donations at her annual photo shoot.  Katie set aside time on Saturday, October 26th to photograph friends and  collected $1,810 for her cousin.  She also had an assistant shooting video and sent the video to Tori as an early Christmas present.  What a wonderful use of your talent, Katie!

Tori lives with her parents Andrea and Bill King and older sister Ella in Charleston, WV.  If you would like to read about Tori, follow this Facebook link or copy and paste to your browser:  https://www.facebook.com/torisliver.  Contact Katie Hanlon at khanlon@abartaenergy.com if you would like to contribute to the Tori King Transplant Fund.

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