Sybil became involved with Little Light of Mine in 2014 as a founding board member and is currently serving as board president. She is a Pediatric Doctor of Audiology at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, where she has worked for the past 17 years. She also serves on the cochlear implant and cleft/craniofacial teams.
Sybil’s interest in providing photographs to families with children fighting life-threatening illness is very personal. She has three children in her arms and four in her heart. Sybil and her husband, Jim, lost their second child, Anna, when Anna was only 2 1/2 years old. Anna was born with significant cardiac and respiratory issues, secondary to her diagnosis of Down Syndrome. Professional pictures were never taken of Anna. They have cell phone images, but those images are not high in quality, like what she would have received had professional portraits been made of Anna.
“Little Light of Mine provided me a way to move beyond the regret of not having professional photographs of Anna. Every minute becomes important, and every image precious. Even when the battle is won, the images become important documentation of a family’s journey,” Sybil says.
Sybil’s desire to ensure that every family in the Tampa Bay area has quality photos to tell the story of their children’s lives has kept her very much at the heart of the organization since its inception.
“As an Audiologist at All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine and a parent in many of its waiting rooms, I could immediately think of a dozen families who I would refer to Sheri for her beautiful photographs,” she says. “It wasn’t enough for me to just refer families, I had to volunteer my time to see Little Light of Mine succeed long term. I am excited by how the organization has grown and am committed to seeing that continued progress. It takes a special group of people to pursue such important work, and I am proud to be among them.”