Raphael's Christmas Wish
Raph was born with a condition that had no name. The doctors said he had a neurological genetic disorder that affected everything - his hearing, brain, muscles and heart.
When he was born he stayed in the NICU at Monash Children's for 5 months until he was stable enough to come home. However he was in and out of hospital for all of his life, which made Monash Children's his second home.
While there Raph had the opportunity to have a Christmas Wish portrait done with 'The Real Santa' @aussie_santa and the team from The Heart Project led by Karen Alsop.
Sadly Raph passed away 2 years later in Dec 2019, on the day the family had booked to visit Aussie Santa at his farm.
This year, 2021, the family took their two girls, Isla and Bella, to Story Art for a magical Christmas Photo. Karen composite's Santa in with the children making it look like they are right there with him (which is not only covid safe and doesn't require social distancing, but is also very suited to families with children that have special needs and are very scared of Santa).
When Jen and Eugene shared with Karen that she had previously photographed Raph with Santa, she offered to create an artwork of the children all together. Raph on Santa's knee from Christmas Wish 2017 and the girls photographed in Karen's outdoor studio, interacting with their parents, to make it look like they are connecting directly with Raph and Santa in the artwork.
This is the reveal...
