Meet Ashlyn. She is Beauty Revived.

Photography by Luv Bean Photography

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Meet Ashlyn. She is Beauty Revived.

Compassionate. Warrior. Melt-Your-Heart-Smile
The first thing you’ll notice about Ashlyn is her smile. It truly could melt the hardest of hearts. There is an unexplainable genuineness and out pouring of love projected from her smile. You’d never know that as a high school girl that she had all ready endured Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Ashlyn was excited to start the summer before her junior year working as a lifeguard. The night marking the last day of her sophomore year also marked the beginning of her battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Instead of enjoying the sun on her face in the lifeguard chair and warm summer nights, Ashlyn started tests and scans and chemotherapy one week after school let out.
The hardest part through for Ashlyn, an avid soccer player, was not having the energy to do anything. Ashlyn, who was so used to constantly being active, was quickly confined to a hospital bed doing nothing all day. Despite her circumstances, Ashlyn made the most of this life experience. She stayed positive, always kept a smile on her face and took one day at a time. At her chemo treatments she loved to venture out of her room and help brighten up the day of other patients. When her friends would visit her to make her feel better, she ended up making their day better instead. Her best friend told me “She never ceases to amaze me with the amount of positivity and happiness she can give to others.”
Over the summer months, Ashlyn’s parents watched their little girl change into a warrior who never let her circumstance affect her negatively. Commenting on how she kept her positive attitude and became an inspiration for them. Ashlyn’s dad told me “She has taught me more about how to live life while fighting for hers than my 44 years on this earth has ever taught me”.
Ashlyn says that her eyes have been opened. Opened to the needs of others and possibilities of helping them. While she is still finishing treatments of chemotherapy and radiation, she has plans to give back to the Cancer Treatment Center through volunteer work, offering an ear and shoulder to those receiving treatment that need someone to talk to and understand their circumstances. Ashlyn participates in fundraising activities like Relay for Life and truly desires to raise money for the families going through circumstances similar to hers, so they can get financial support and help to relieve some of the stress. Ashlyn wants to pay forward the support, love and kindness she experienced during her treatment. “I have always been a kind person to others, but going through this experience I have come to realize the way we treat others and how we interact with each other can make a big difference in some ones day. Not everyone has a life changing event, but every day there are people in my life that have bad days and if I can be someone who can make that bad day a better day then I feel I have made an impact in their lives. I am truly blessed to have a great family and great friends and had received so much support. Going through my treatment was the most difficult experience, but it has made me a better person and a stronger person. I know what is important in my life, I don’t sweat the small stuff, life is too short, and I don’t take it for granted.”
Ashlyn is involved in school soccer, travel soccer, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Ecology Club, and Acts of Random Kindness. I asked Ashlyn what her favorite memory from high school is so far and why and I love her response: “My favorite memory from high school so far was getting assigned the third grade class that I picked and get to work with every other day for my Early Childhood Education class. This is my favorite because it gives me something to look forward to everyday.”

About the Photographer

I’m Shannon, owner of Luv Bean Photography located in Northern Virginia. I started my business two years ago and feel in love with senior photography. I love using my business to be a positive influence on high school girls. I focus on custom sessions to highlight the unique personality, interests and true beauty of my seniors. When not behind a camera, I enjoy running, coffee, massages and pedicures, and spending time with my husband and our 7 year old pup, Minya the Norwegian Elk Hound.