Family Photo

I’m a lucky man. Look at that photo up there – my family is just an awesome group of people. We’re truly grateful for our health and happiness. I setup my portable studio in our living room this evening and we each posed individually. I put this composite together for my personal Facebook Timeline poster, but it turned out so cool that I wanted to share it with y’all.

It has been a great year for me. I’ve accomplished a lot of my goals despite a physically rough start. I’ve grown a lot as a photographer, and with the help of events like Help-Portrait and Angel Walk, I’ve grown as a person. Speaking of Help-Portrait, If you were watching ABC World News on Christmas Eve, you might have caught a spectacular piece about it. It was especially awesome for our MUSC Kids Help-Portrait team because photos from our event were featured in the piece, including this photo of Jesse who inspired my wife and I to start our group:

Dasinger Family

What’s that you say? You didn’t catch it? Well it is almost 2012 – we have the internet to save the day! Check out the piece here.

That brings me to my next point. Jesse was saved by a bone marrow donor. An anonymous awesome person was matched to Jesse and was able to save this sweet boy’s life. Giving service in the form of photography is a fantastic gesture to celebrate our humanity, but I think we can do more in a different way. Today I signed up as a bone marrow donor and I want everyone who reads this to think about doing the same. It’s easy, but I won’t say it’s painless. What’s a couple of days of discomfort compared to a human life? Besides, you have a very slim chance of actually being matched – but you are increasing the odds that a potential recipient will find a match by registering. If you do get matched, all of your expenses are paid (except time off from work) and you’re fully covered medically for the procedure. Furthermore, you will officially become the most amazing person in the world to someone who’s life you’ll potentially save!

Here’s the skinny, go to this website to get all of the details. Sign up here to get your swab kit. That’s it. I also put a widget to the right of my blog in case you forget. If anything, you’ll get that shiny happy feeling when you hit submit on the sign-up form like you just gave a loved one the present they’ve been begging for all year.

If you have the means and are lucky enough to be healthy enough to be able to do so, I encourage you to just do it. I hope you have a fantastic holiday this season no matter what your beliefs are, because we are all here now and all we truly have is each other. Merry Christmas!