Revisiting Lynn ~ Iowa City Cover Girl

Earlier this year I shot a cover story for Triumph, a national magazine for regular donors of the American Cancer Society. The story was about childhood cancer, and my subject was Lynn, a young University of Iowa student.

Lynn was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a cancer that resulted in doctors removing her right eye when she was only 1.5 years old. Soon after she got a prosthetic eye – what she’s had all of her life. During our shoot this past winter, she had a patch over her right eye because she was due to get a new prosthetic (needed to better fit her face as she gets older) and had to have the tissue behind her old prosthetic heal (hence the bandage in the magazine photo).

She got her new prosthetic earlier this spring, and we finally met up to take some photos of her with “both” eyes.

It was great to see her again, and hard to tell the prosthetic from the real eye… but… Lynn was more excited about the piercing above her lip – a reward to herself for surviving her first full year of college!

Cheers,

Shuva

Cover Photo in American Cancer Society’s National Magazine

In early January I met Lynn Nguyen in downtown Iowa City who shared with me how normal her life has been – with one “real” eye.

She was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a cancer that resulted in doctors removing her right eye when she was only 1.5 years old. Soon after she got a prosthetic eye – what she’s had all of her life.

As a senior last year at Iowa City High School Lynn was applying for scholarships and saw one offered by the American Cancer Society. She applied, and won a $1,000 scholarship. Lynn told me all this in a very matter-of-fact way: This is how it is, no big deal (except the scholarship money, of course).

But the ACS was so impressed with Lynn it featured her on the cover for a story about young survivors of childhood cancer in its current issue of Triumph. It’s the ACS official magazine for donors who give at least $250 annually, and is sent three times a year to more than 300,000 people nationwide.

I was THRILLED to photograph the story. And this past week, Lynn and I were excited to get our copies of the magazine in the mail.

Cover of Spring 2010 Triumph magazine

Inside, pgs. 14-15

Pg. 16

Over her Thanksgiving break Lynn had surgery so the tissue behind her old prosthetic could heal (hence the bandage in these photos) – making it necessary for a new eye to better fit her face as she gets older. Lynn recently received her new prosthetic, and is continuing life as a busy freshman at the University of Iowa.