RVA Cures in Richmond Magazine
Thank you to Richmond Magazine reporter, Tharon Giddens, for the interview with Kristin Seward about the photography exhbition downtown called RVA Cures. An excerpt is below, and be sure to read the full article at: richmondmagazine.com/life-style/health/faces-in-the-crowd/
Faces in the Crowd: A new exhibit seeks to broaden the view of pediatric cancer
by Tharon Giddens, September 21, 2017… Seward became a chronicler of kids' cancer in 2015 after hearing that her obstetrics doctor, Katie Tyson, had a son, Callen, who had leukemia. She didn’t know Tyson well at the time, but reached out to the physician to see if Tyson would be willing to share her family’s story in a blog that Seward was writing at the time on people she found inspiring.
Seward spent time with the Tysons, and a friendship developed. They talked about what life is like for families battling cancers in their children, and how most people never saw what was going on beyond the photos of smiling, bald kid patients sometimes seen in fundraisers for various hospitals and nonprofits. They wanted to show “a different, a very real side of it, and do it in a way that preserves their dignity,” says Seward. “People don’t see behind the scenes.”
She started following Callen’s story. He’s now in remission, she says.
Tyson in turn introduced Seward to other families in similar situations. They’re a “tribe of families,” Seward says: “When you’re going through the same thing, you band together.”