“Racing 4 Bella!” Support Bella’s Brigade!
On this Mother’s Day Sunday I want to share a story that will hopefully make a difference for a 9-year-old girl and her family. Her name is Isabella Phelan who was born on 3/23/12. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on 4/23/2016 and went into remission 2 years later.
Sadly it relapsed into her spinal fluid and bone marrow. Bella needed a transplant and her big sister Peyton (11 years old) was a 10/10 match…the transplant took place at Oishei Children’s Hospital. Unfortunately at the end of April of this year, lil Bella had to have her spleen removed and after that, she was diagnosed with veno-occlusive disease VOD from all her prior chemotherapy treatments.
This young lady and her family have gone through so much, that it has been brought to the attention of our track photographer Bill Burke and the Tammy Cummings Stables at Buffalo Raceway. Tammy has been racing her horses in teal ribbons, for that color is Bella’s favorite, for the last couple of weeks in support of Bella’s Brigade (a Facebook page for Bella). Bill and his fellow photographer Sarah Lyle have taken efforts to photograph the horses for Bella and Team Cummings horses. After seeing the resulting photos, Bill was inspired to create “Racing 4 Bella!”, a photo art composite piece that depicts a race between all four horses, each driven by Kyle Cummings.
“Tammy and Alyssa Cummings asked me to take pictures of their horses, which is not unusual, but then they told me about Bella and the colors. Sarah happened to be there that night, and her daughter is best friends with Bella, so she was more than happy to help get some shots. They had asked Sarah and I to make a few edits to the photos and while I was looking at them I got the idea that it would be cool to put them together in a composite and make them look like they were racing each other. This lead to the creation of “Racing 4 Bella!”. I thought, well, if nothing else at least they can use it to bring awareness to Bella’s Brigade, and maybe a few people will be interested to get a print for a donation for the family. It’s definitely a unique view. I mean, how often do you see the same driver behind four horses in the same race?”
It would also be greatly appreciated if you would consider donating blood and platelets. While Bella’s needs are thankfully being met, there are many who are in vital need. Please contact the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center at (716) 845-8275 to learn more about donating.
…God bless and I want to extend a very Happy Mother’s Day to Jaime Phelan (Bella’s Mom).
– Wayne Teaven, Buffalo Raceway Track Announcer
May 9, 2021
Purchase a print
“Racing 4 Bella” is originally formatted to 11″x19″. In order to maintain its proper appearance as formatted, it will be printed in letter-box format (as shown below) on 16″x20″ Kodak Professional Supra Endura VC Digital Paper. The print is unframed; framing options are available upon request.
Digital downloads are intended to be used to help raise awareness for Bella. Please include a link to Bella’s Brigade and this web page (creeksideimagery.com/bellastrong) when posting the image on social media. And be cool; don’t print it.