Reflections Of Hope | Elliott Burkhart's Story | Anencephaly Awareness

I am not sure if you all remember a blog post that I shared a few months back of my introduction to the Reflections Of Hope Project that I started this year that shared a piece of The Burkhart Family’s story of their beautiful daughter, Elliott, who was diagnosed with Anencephaly. If you haven’t, you can see it by clicking here.

Elliott Ruelisha Cole Burkhart entered the world on June 6th at 10:00pm on the dot. Taylor’s C-section was scheduled for June 25th but Elliott decided to choose her own birthday. I was at a dentist appointment when Taylor had sent me a text message saying “Baby Time”. I rushed to the UK hospital in Lexington as fast as I could and I made it just in time! I was in shock when a nurse came up to me with those blue paper scrubs and informed me that they were ready for me to photograph the c-section. I was both so excited and yet so nervous.

I said a little prayer and asked God not only to give me the strength, but to give Taylor & Sam the strength, to allow them to be blessed with time with Elliott, and for him to just take my hands into his and to help me to capture the moments that Taylor and Sam needed. You guys, he did that and more! God is unbelievably good. Elliott lived for an hour and a half!!!! That is such a blessing and what an honor it was for me to have been able to capture her life and also, her death. She was surrounded by so much love. I mean, the power of love that was bouncing off the walls in that small hospital room was indescribable.

I’ve felt God a few times in my 30 years of life but in that moment, I really felt him. I even saw him; in the movement of Elliott’s fingers and blinks of her eyes, in the strength and courage I saw in Taylor (I could write a book about how incredible this woman is, seriously!) and the love Sam held in his eyes for his little family. Watching Elliott’s birth and death forever changed so many lives, including my own. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Taylor and her family must feel from this loss. It’s just one of those things that no one would ever wish on a soul. To witness a death of child, a heart broken family, and having no control or way to truly help, I felt so devastated and yet so full of joy that they were blessed with that time with her.

Elliott is absolutely beautiful! Her sweet face took my breath away and the way she fought for those 92 minutes was inspiring! Every day this little girl and her family are making an impact on people’s lives. Taylor has a Facebook page dedicated to Elliott and her family’s Journey.

Rose and Elliott, two beautiful baby girls who were both diagnosed with Anencephaly, born, and died this year; these girls are my reason for creating the Reflections of Hope project. I felt God’s pull towards me photographing these precious moments for their families and I knew in my heart, this is something God wants me to do with these photography skills that he has blessed me with. Everyday I ask him to lead me down a path that will serve him and this is part of it.

Reflections of Hope is a photography project that helps to document and preserve the stories of families who have experienced loss, illness, and heartbreak and to help preserve through these times with strength and hope. The amazing families that are a part of this project are gifted a professional photoshoot and lasting tangible memories. I want to offer two types of sessions for families: Preserve and Celebrate sessions.

Celebrate sessions

Our Celebrate Sessions are all about celebrating the strength, perseverance, and courage of a family who have travelled a difficult road together. This may be someone in remission from a terminal illness, a family rebuilding their life after the loss of a child, or any similar situation. The aim of these sessions is to celebrate these amazing stories through beautiful images that capture the joy and newfound hope.

Preserve Sessions

Our Preserve sessions are for families facing urgent and life threatening situations. This may be a loved one who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, stillbirth, a child with Anencephaly, a family member on life support, someone that has experienced an accident, or a similar situation. The aim for these sessions is to preserve the connection and love between a family through documentary style photography.

Photography is powerful in so many ways but this is a whole new level and it brings me to tears to even think about families being in pain. If I can help someone by aiding in helping them to document a precious moment in their life and provide some love and support for them, then I am all for it. Sign me up God, for I am happy to live the life you want for me.

To find out more information on this project you can click here.

Taylor and I wanted to share Elliott’s story, so below is what Taylor wanted to share with you along with some of her favorite photographs of the day Elliott was born. Check out this amazing facebook group, Anencephaly Hope , they offer care package gifts to families after learning their baby has Anencephaly. If you would like to donate towards care packages you can do so by sending your donation through PayPal paypal.me/anencephalyhope . There is also a Facebook group for raising awareness for Anencephaly, click here.

On June 6, 2019 at 10pm exactly, the life of me, my husband, and my family changed forever. It was changed in such a way, I can hardly find the words to explain it. How can you truly explain the day you gave life to your child and in that same day, lost your child? Elliott Ruelisha Cole Burkhart was born weighing 3 pounds and 4 ounces. She was 13 inches long and she lived for 92 beautiful minutes. She was perfect. My heart was so overwhelmed with joy but also sadness because I knew our time with her would be short. She didn’t cry. She didn’t make a sound. I only felt her move 3 times. Her eyes slowed blinked but just enough for us to see she had blue eyes. She didn’t get to wrap her finger around mine, I had to do it for her. I had to find a way to fit all the precious keepsakes in a matter of moments. Our daughter had anencephaly. A rare birth defect that is not compatible with life. Often times, pregnancies with this diagnosis end in termination but that just wasn’t an option for my husband and I. We wanted to carry our baby girl for as long as the Lord allowed us. We wanted as much time with her after birth as He was going to allow. We knew she wouldn’t look like a healthy, normal baby. We knew that not only would she have head deformation but possible others as well. We knew she may die before or during birth. We knew she may be so purple in her face that we may not even be able to see some of her facial features but we didn’t care. We loved her and wanted to give her life. We looked forward to meeting her but absolutely dreaded knowing we would later have to let her go. At 34 weeks and 1 day, through csection, Elliott was brought into this world. The moment the nurse laid her on my chest, is a moment I will never forget. I didn’t see an Anencephaly baby. I saw our perfect, beautiful daughter who I was finally getting to hold in my arms. I saw life. I had just given birth to the most beautiful girl in the world. The 92 minutes to follow were full of love, not sadness. We kissed her. We held her. We traced every feature of her face with our fingers trying to memorize it. We inspected her little hands and feet trying to burn the memories into our brains. Our son got to hold his sister, and all her family got to hold her too before she became an angel at 11:32pm. But even after she passed, we held her and loved on her. We dressed her in her little sister outfit, changed her hat, took pictures, and made molds of her hands and feet. Not a moment of her life was without love. I know she felt it. I know she knew we loved her. And I know she knows we still do. A week later, we held a funeral service for our Elliott and laid our beautiful girl to rest. She was dressed in a white lace dress a dear friend of mine had made especially for her, along with a matching hat. When I first saw her laying in the smallest casket I had ever seen, I was in total shock. She didn’t look the same I kept feeling like this couldn’t possibly be happening. This isn’t our baby girl we are about to bury. But it was real and it was her. That day was sad. One of the saddest. But we were blessed to have some many people there to support us. People who love Elliott just like we do. Despite all the pain, suffering, sadness, sorrow, needless guilt, and crying till I couldn’t possibly cry anymore, she was worth all of it. I would do it ALL again for her, just so we could relive those 92 minutes. I have never once regretted my decision to carry my baby girl and give her life. Even through the pain and sadness there was so much joy. So much love. Elliott has taught me so much. She showed me what true love really is. She taught me to enjoy life to its absolute fullest and that you nothing is impossible. I thank God he chose us to be her parents. And that he chose me to carry her and be her mother. I visit her everyday. I talk to her everyday. And I am always thinking about her. Not a moment goes by that I don’t wish she was here. What I would give for things to have been different. Although I don’t get to watch my child grow up, I am so thankful she is ours. We will always love her. We will always miss her. And I will forever cherish that 92 amazing minutes of life we got to share with her. Forever my baby she’ll be.

I have been trying to find a way to honor Elliott’s memory. I have been so blessed with the love and support from so many people I want to pay it forward. I am offering photography for any families carrying a child with a fatal birth defect at no cost to them. The photos I have of the 92 minutes Elliott was in my arms mean the world to me and I want to bless families with the same. If you or someone you know has been told their unborn child has a fatal birth defect and will be in Somerset, London or Lexington please contact me through this page or tcb.28@hotmail.com