07/10/2026
To my wonderful clients,
I wanted to take a moment to share an update with all of you.
After nearly 9 months of countless appointments, tests, 12 doctors and specialists, hospital visits, and more questions than answers, I have finally received a diagnosis: Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) with functional seizures.
While I am incredibly grateful to finally have a name for what has been happening, this diagnosis doesn’t mean my journey is over. FND is a neurological condition that affects how the brain and body communicate. It can cause very real symptoms including weakness, paralysis, tremors, extreme pain, vision loss and changes, memory and cognitive difficulties, speech and swallowing difficulties, fatigue similar to narcolepsy, and many different types of seizures, even though traditional scans often appear normal.
Many of you have already seen pieces of this journey. You’ve watched me push through sessions, reschedule appointments, take longer than usual to edit, or simply disappear for a while as I tried to figure out what was happening. Thank you for the kindness, patience, and grace you’ve shown me during one of the hardest seasons of my life. This has been a lot to process and very scary for me and my family.
Photography has never just been my job. It is part of who I am. Creating beautiful memories for your families has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and I have no intention of giving that up. My path may look a little different now, and I may need to work at a slower pace or make adjustments when my symptoms flare, but my heart for my clients has never changed.
I ask for your continued patience and understanding as I learn how to navigate life with this diagnosis and find treatments that help me regain as much independence as possible.
This has been extremely difficult grieving the life I had and the person I once was. I’m on a new journey of accepting and learning who I am now. We’ve had to make a lot of adjustments and are still learning and adapting to a new way living and navigating this condition.
I know this has frustrated a handful of clients and that I’ve lost a few followers because of my new limitations, and as much as I hate it and it breaks my heart, I’m still learning how to deal with an unpredictable neurological condition.
Most of all, I want to say thank you. Thank you to those that continue to support me. Thank you for every prayer, every message, every check-in, every encouraging word, and every bit of support you’ve given my family. It has carried us through days that felt impossible.
I am hopeful. I am determined. And I’m believing that this diagnosis is not the end of my story, but simply the beginning of learning how to write a new chapter.
With love,
The new Hannah 🫶🏻
*picture of me and my not so tiny human who turned 12 July 6th, and a reminder that not all disabilities are visible 🖤
