I Don't Expect Anything For Free but I Need Your Help!

This is a request for help..Please read the whole post as it is important.

It's funny how things can change so quickly, and it sad how most of us don't realize how good things really are.  We take so many simple things for granted. I have a hard time when it comes to being grateful for the blessings I have been given.

I'm going to tell you a story about me. In 1999 I was 27 years old and was not really looking for much. I was totally happy with my life the way it was .The truth was I didn't know what "happy" was. I was dating a lot of girls and since I looked young I was always dating younger girls. I had set a rule for myself that I would not date anyone who was under 24. It was just that girls younger than 24 seemed too immature. I wasn't that grown up either, at that time it just seemed to make sense. Then I met Amber. Amber was 19. We would see each other around town and I was always nice to her as she was to me. She had a boyfriend who was not so nice to her and after a year of dating he left town and they broke up. She found a new guy pretty quick, I think because she was so beautiful(she still is).  Truthfully, her new guy was great and a lot of fun to be around. He had a classic Cherry Red Mustang. With my girlfriend at the time, and Amber's boyfriend, we would go on double dates. A few months went by and  my girlfriend broke up with me and Amber broke up with her guy. Bummer I thought, no more rides the Mustang. Haha. Then my old girlfriend and her old boyfriend started dating(they got married about a week before we did). Amber and I were both lonely so we started hanging out.  I remember her coming over to my house and having dinner with my father and I. After she left my dad told me that I would marry "that girl". I told him no way. I wasn't interested in Amber. She wasn't my type, plus she was way too young. Well, my dad was right. It took a while for me to fall in love with Amber but when I did I know it was right. We got married on July 14,2000. There was ash falling from the sky and Hell's angels were in town!( because of forest fires near our home and the Hell's Angels Anual meet-up, pretty funny huh!!)   

That was the start of our adventure. We went to Lake Powell and all over Arizona and southern Utah for our honeymoon.  We camped out on the beach and got sand in our hair(actually everywhere). Our jeeps battery blew up at a gas station and then our bank account was screwed up and we ran out of money while getting gas in a small town in Utah! That was just the beginning of our great adventures!!

We moved a few times and lived in a few different states and then four years later, while camping near Yellowstone things got really interesting. We got pregnant! We were really excited! 9 months later we had the most adorable little baby girl. The night she was born I changed. I knew I had to grow up. I knew that I had people other than me that depended on me. I knew I had to become a better man.  Getting married did not change me, but becoming a father did. Fast forward to two years later and I was in the hospital in Ketchum, Idaho. This time a little boy popped out. My lovely little boy is so beautiful. He is my best bud. He turns 6 in a few days!! If you don't have kids you probably don't know what I mean. My father told me once that there is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is temporary and joy is eternal. If you want to feel joy in life have children. 

Even though we were so happy to have a little boy join the family, there were some serious issues that arose after his birth. My wife had to go back to the hospital. She was having issues with shortness of breath and dizziness. The hospital admitted her. Her pulse went down to 37 beats per minute. There were other scary issues going on too. Luckily she got better and after about 4 days later she was feeling fine and they let her go. Now let's fast forward to now. My wife is pregnant again and we were trying for a while so we are really happy about another little boy. His name is Jasper. My wife had been seeing a Midwife and about two weeks ago at an office visit the midwife sent Amber over to the hospital for some tests. We got the results right before thanksgiving. It turns out that Amber has some very serious heart conditions

The most serious is called Long QT Syndrome. There is also Mitrol Valve Regurgitation. People who have these conditions can die suddenly without any warning. I was floored when I found out. My wife called me and was crying. I left work and met her at the hospital. There have been more tests, and we have more tests on monday. We have to wait a few more days to see the Cardiologist again and find out about surgery and pacemakers and all kinds of other stuff.  We have been crying a lot and our friends are helping us cope with this. It's really scary to think that my amazing wife of 13 years might die.  It also seems as though every time we see a specialist we get more bad news.  We always hope for good news but every time we go into meet with a doctor it seems we find out more is wrong.  I never thought that I would lose the love of my life. The most important thing to me in this world is my wife and family. I can't image life without her. 

So now we get to the point of this post.  I need your help, I have to find a way to get us through these few next weeks and somehow figure a way to pay all of our bills. The doctors are talking about procedures and surgeries that I don't know about. They are expensive and I don't know how we will pay for them yet. I just don't know how all this works. I have missed work and so that means a lower pay check.  I am behind on touching up images for clients and am having a hard time sleeping. If you know me you know that I only sleep about 4 or 5 hours a night anyway. I wake up in the morning with a sore jaw from grinding my teeth. I am stressed out. I can't image how my lovely wife feels.  

I have never wanted anything for free, and I will never expect anything for free.  I need your help. I sell my prints on etsy and in my shop above. If you are able and can afford to help us please buy a Fine Art Landscape print or a Fine Art Portrait Print or something from this website.  Please take a look and chose one you like. The prints on Etsy are a bit more expensive but they are signed and number and I will only ever sell one of them. So if you buy one of those you will have the only print in the world.  You can also buy the ebooks I offer on this site if you want. Please take a look at everything that is available on this site. Anything helps.

 I know there are some who can't afford to help us and that is o.k. I would then ask for you to keep us in your thoughts. If you are religions, please pray for us. It doesn't matter which religion you are, God listens to everyone, it doesn't even matter which God you pray to. 

We are scared but we still have hope. Please help us if you can. 

Thank you so much for all that you have already given me and my family. 

Brian Johnson

Blogger, Photographer, and most important of all, husband and father. 

P.S. I will be adding more images to this Site and to my Etsy Site in the next few days so if you don't see anything you like come back and visit later and see what I have uploaded.Click here to visit my etsy shop!

I will also be posting updates on this blog post as the days go by.

If you have thoughts our questions please leave a comment below or you can email me at buffalozphotog@yahoo.com

Please share this post with whoever you can.

Ebook on How to Make Money with Photography online. this is a great ebook! You get great advice on making money with photography and you are helping me and my family get through a tough time! Thanks So Much!! Click here to learn more about it!

Quick note: My ditigal download company was having issues and so I am trying to allow payment through paypal, but I haven't set it up right yet. It will not work. I will fix this issue later today. Thank you so much and please check back this evening to help us out! Until this issue is fixed you can purchase images at my 500px site. They are only $2.99 for a digital download so please purchase a few! If you can, purchasing a Canvas print will really really help! Thank you so much! This is the link! 

http://500px.com/ayres

For more ebooks to look at click here!!

Future updates will be posted here: 
We will know more tomorrow.(Monday December 3rd)