As I prepared to enter the hospital for a bone marrow transplant to treat my aggressive leukemia, I wanted to tackle an ambitious but important task, a video for my two small children to remember me by. I wanted to pass on advice, information, values, and my hopes and dreams—15 years of parenting wrapped up in a 15 minute DVD. Two days before I started treatment again, I had 7 pages of notes and no video. My social worker suggested LifeChronicles. I was impressed and moved by the website, a video like this was exactly what I needed; it seemed impossible in a short timeframe but I crossed my fingers and requested a taping. The next morning I got a call at 8:00 am from company founder Kate Carter, asking if I could tape at 9:30 am. She was coincidentally just finishing a shoot in the Bay Area and kindly squeezed me in before she had to leave San Jose, and later, she even called to postpone her afternoon meeting (that was 300 miles away) because she felt this was more important. I didn’t need to do any preparation except pick an outfit to wear. The shoot was easy, she guided me through some b-roll of me playing with the children; later she interviewed me and I addressed some of the things I wanted to say from my notes. Kate made me comfortable in front of the camera so my children could see my sense of humor and my personality shine through, and the way we interacted while I read them a story might help stimulate some fading memories of my smell or touch. The whole experience was so rewarding because LifeChronicles will produce an amazing video that will protect my legacy of love for my children with a DVD of images, words, music, and video of their mother being a mother. And whether I live or die, my kids will get to see me as I am now, before the treatment withers me away, and before they stop believing in the unfailing, eternal love of their mother. This gift I leave for my family was only made possible by Kate and LifeChronicles, whose dedication and commitment will not only help provide a structure of memories for my children in a way that will be always treasured, but also allows me to go into treatment knowing that a little piece of me will always come back.
Rachel Peres
San Jose, Calif.