Blog Katie Allen Dec. 2022

When asked to start a blog on my CMTC I will admit I was nervous. I have often shared my experience in person, but a blog is new, very new, so I hope you will be patient and allow me to muddle along through this shared experience.
I started laser treatments when I was 12 years old, so it’s safe to say there are plenty of photos of me with dark round bruises on my face in my house. When I was younger and had more laser pulses per visit, they often blurred together forming deep bruises; now it looks more like a bit of road rash. However, despite the photos that I do have with marks on my face, in team sports or just candid shots people took of me going about my life, a couple of years ago I realized in very few of these photos was I aware and focussed on the camera and even fewer were taken by me. Further, I could almost pinpoint the events I had gone to with friends and family after laser treatments as there were none of me, I had always offered to take any photos. Today we live in a time so filled with photos and selfies, creating such great memories. After a grief-driven realization that there were moments with loved ones gone I had not captured because of my self-consciousness, I made a new pledge: Take the photo.

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