Young cancer survivors pose together again two years after viral photo
Three young cancer survivors are "doing great and enjoying childhood" two years after a photo showing their struggle went viral.
When they posed for a sweet embrace in 2014, Rheann Franklin, 6, Ainsley Peters, 5, and Rylie Hughey, 3, were strangers, but they had something in common: They had all been cancer patients. Photographer Lora Scantling wanted to raise awareness of childhood cancer by capturing "something that would speak a million words in a single portrait," she wrote at the time.
A second photo later that year was taken to celebrate when all three girls had entered remission. This week, a new portrait depicts the girls together, holding their original photo that went viral two years ago.
Scantling told ABC that Rheann is facing problems from the chemotherapy and radiation treatments, such as memory loss and stage 3 kidney failure. Scantling said she hopes that continuing to document the trio through these photo shoots will bring more awareness to a need for updated childhood cancer treatments.
"Continuing to do these type of portraits of these girls and other childhood cancer fighters is important to me because its [sic] bringing a lot of attention to childhood cancer awareness," she said.
On top of that, Scantling said the communities that support each of the girls love seeing the updates.
