Everyone who knows me is aware of my love for and connection to
Queensland’s only children’s hospice. I wear my hummingbird tattoo
proudly, in memory of my beautiful boy but also as a living tribute to
the place that supported him and our family throughout some of the
happiest and darkest times.
So, of course, when it was put to Hummingbird House families to create a
picture that could possibly be used as a token for the Coles fundraising
campaign I jumped at the chance. We did have a logistical issue with the
brief though. We were asked to create a hummingbird that represented our
child, perhaps by using their hand and footprints, but of course my child
wasn’t here to squish his little hand into the paint. To trace around his
perfect foot with a felt pen. After some discussion regarding the brief
we were supported to do as much of the picture digitally as we needed to
to include Leo in the way we wished to.
After some assessment we realised Leo’s best footprint was one that was
taken by Leo’s kindy teacher as part of my last mother’s day gift, and
his best handprints were the ones taken by a caring staff member, at
Hummingbird House after his passing. Leo liked to curl his fingers into
the palm of his hand so they were the first really nice ones we
had.
Leo’s prints were monochrome, so my son Sam, who is my tech support for
everything, coloured Leo’s prints digitally to make it look like he had
applied the paint to the paper directly. I printed a bunch of them and we
all sat down as a family to paint and draw hummingbird bodies in between
the handprint wings. Frances, my daughter, is the artist in my family and
her hummingbird came more and more to life with every brushstroke. I
can’t tell you how elated I was that our picture was chosen, and how
proud I am that Leo is continuing on in a way that not only helps raise
money for the house, but also represents the bereaved families that are a
part of this special service.
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