Luke's Legacy

My sweet, strong friend (Jordan Bellard Steelman) found out she was pregnant in June of 2020. Just 6 weeks after I found out I was pregnant. We were SO excited to be pregnant together. I was the first person she told and that meant so much to me. We planned a "family pictures" shoot so that she could surprise her husband (Ryan Steelman) about the exciting news. It was such a sweet moment to be able to capture these for my close friends. In early December of 2020, Jordan's OBGYN sent her to a specialist so that they could get "better pictures of Luke's heart." At the specialist's office is when every expecting parent's worst nightmare became reality. "Something wasn't right with Luke's Heart and Brain." I can only imagine the amount of fear and sadness that set in on the Steelmans. From there, they immediately drove to another specialist 2.5 hours away and had several test ran. It wasn't until 2 weeks later (on Christmas Eve of 2020) that Jordan got a call she would never forget. Her Sweet Luke Ryan had Trisomy 18 Full.

"Luke Ryan Steelman entered this world into the arms of his parents, Ryan and Jordan Steelman on February 12, 2021. After 12 beautiful hours of love and comfort, he returned to the arms of Jesus in the early morning of Saturday, February 13, 2021." - an excerpt from Luke's Obituary.

After Luke's passing, Jordan made the strong courageous decision to keep breast pumping so that she could donate her breast milk to babies in need. She pumped for one month and had her last pumping session on March 12th, 2021 to commemorate Luke's birth.

We were talking one day and thought it would be a cool idea to document everything before she donated it all. And come to find out, the national day of donating breast milk is on May 19th, which is Jordan's Birthday. It was all too perfect. This session was raw, real and intense but I'm so proud of my friend and I'm thankful she allowed me to document such an intimate experience.

Her words coming soon...