Four-year-old Nora Davis has paid a touching and special tribute to her mother who died in July last year from cervical cancer, wearing her wedding dress in a moving memorial photoshoot.
In the months before her death, Amber Davis came up with the idea of a photoshoot with Nora in her wedding dress. Diagnosed in early 2014 with rare neuroendocrine carcinoma cervical cancer, Amber fought the disease with radiation and chemotherapy. Ultimately, the cancer spread to her brain and she died at just 27 years of age on July 28, 2015.
Speaking to People, Amber's sister Adrianne Blackwelder, who takes care of the Davis' three children, 8-year-old Noah, 4-year-old Nora and 3-year-old Reid, while their dad Derek works, says that Nora talks about her mother every day and that the photoshoot was a celebration of Amber's life, rather than a sad event.
Blackwelder says, "Amber was scared, of course, but she did everything she could to make sure her kids and husband were taken care of after she died. That's why she wanted these photos, she wanted Nora to know how much she loved her."
Close friend and photographer Heidi Spillane says that Amber told her about the idea before she passed away. "She saw [the photoshoot] as a way for Nora to remember her mama once she passed away. She wanted me to promise I would do it when she was gone."
According to Spillane, Nora told her how special it felt to wear her mother's wedding dress at the exact venue her parents were married nearly six years earlier. Amber's stylist Erica Stevens also took part, ensuring that Nora's hair and make up were just right. Dad Derek credited his daughter's strength. "Nora has had to endure many things someone her age should not have," says Derek. "Through it all she has shown her mother's warrior spirit."
Spillane from My Three Arrows Photography posted the album of fifty photographs on her Facebook page writing, "Sweet Nora lost her beautiful mother Amber last year. Nora was so excited to put on mummy's fancy wedding dress and be photographed at her parent's wedding venue. I can remember the day Amber texted me a picture of a little girl in her mum's wedding dress and we started planning. Amber, photographing this session without you was never in the plan but we felt you there, smiling and so proud of your sweet girl."
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