You haven’t heard of me but I have stories to tell. I am an unknown photographer living in a 103-year-old house on the east side of St Paul with my wonderful wife, three beautiful children, plus a dog and a cat. My life has been filled with tremendous challenges and tremendous adventures. But it has been in my role as Violet’s dad that I’ve faced my most difficult challenges.

The photographs in this book document the incredible tenacity, courage, and beauty our daughter has shown through her lifetime of medical issues. The painful tests, numerous surgeries, some repeated several times, have been almost more than I could bear.

Almost. But I took pictures.

I have documented Violet’s personal journey and our family’s quest to find an accurate diagnosis and a better understanding of our future together.

Photography has been a way to process the grief and the triumphs and the beauty of Violet. She has an effect of pure light on the people she comes in contact with. She is unforgettable.