Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/09/07

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Subject: [Leica] Portrait: my sister
From: abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)
Date: Wed Sep 7 15:37:28 2005

Every September I make an emotional trip to Philadelphia to see my
sister. When she was very young she contracted encephalitis, a very
severe case, which left her severely damaged. I also go other times
but during the first week of September they have a formal assessment
of her condition and her needs.

She was admitted to the care of the Devereoux Foundation in the early
50's where she has resided since. My mother was no longer truly sane
after her illness and the doctors felt she, and me, would do better if
Ann were in an institution. Devereoux take wonderful care of her. When
my mother died in 1985 it became my task to care for the sister I
never knew.

Ann has had a bad time with a kidney infection but has rebounded. She
has almost no language although she can sing songs she learned when
she was very small. She cannot construct sentences although she can
manipulate a small set of phrases to convey meaning. She likes to leaf
through catalogs and hold little toys or stuffed animals.

She exists in some unknown space for the mind - recognizing people,
clearly getting pleasure from the site of a duck or dog or cat or a
deer that may come up to the building where she lives. (Her campus is
surrounded by the suburban woods around Devon, PA) But the larger
world is lost to her.

This is Ann, my sister.

<http://www.adambridge.com/Photos/2005/09/07/_L3U5649-bw.jpg>

Thank you for sharing.

(Canon 1Ds MK II, 24-70f/2.8L, ASA 400, 1/320 @ f2.8)

Adam


Replies: Reply from firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from reid at mejac.palo-alto.ca.us (Brian Reid) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from dlridings at gmail.com (Daniel Ridings) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from dennis at hale-pohaku.com (Dennis Painter) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from dennis at hale-pohaku.com (Dennis Painter) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from kennybod at mac.com (Kenneth Frazier) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from luisripoll at telefonica.net (Luis Ripoll) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from paul at paulhardycarter.com (Paul) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from ruben at rhodos.dk (Ruben) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from kididdoc at cox.net (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)
Reply from tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant) ([Leica] Portrait: my sister)