Tegan Conner

Kayla Shannon, 15, of Grand Blanc, works on writing a poem while at her home in Grand Blanc on Dec. 8, 2016. The high school freshman at Grand Blanc High School often uses her poetry to address social justice issues that she encounters in her daily life. "You can never run out of things to say," Shannon said.

John Hardy, of Flint, center, waits for voters to arrive at the Berston Field House polling location to cast their votes during the primary election on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 in Flint, Mich. The ballot included races for Genesee County commissioners, and other local offices from clerks to board members, as well as the Democratic nomination for Genesee County Sheriff.

Deshawn Williams, 10, of Flint, poses with the bike he chose during the Krystal Jo's Diner's Second Annual Bicycle Giveaway on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. Over 150 bicycles were collected to giveaway to children in the community through a raffle.

Melvin Orellana, 15, left, caught a rebound while his sister Margery Villalta, 11, tied up the hair of their cousin Cinita Lopez, 3, all of Huntingburg, on Wednesday afternoon outside their home in Huntingburg. The cousins took advantage of this week’s unseasonably warm weather — Wednesday’s highs reached into the 60s — and played outside.

James Mason Jr., a Flint native and long-time friend of Donte Williams, lights candles with other friends and family of Williams to remember and to celebrate his life during a vigil service on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016 at the Flat Lot in downtown Flint, Mich. Earlier that day, Williams was shot multiple times and killed at the lot. "We ain't have to be blood to be brothers," Mason said of his friend of almost 15 years. "Sometime water is thicker than blood when you've been through the mud. That's how we was."

Charlene Butts, of Fenton, looks at a remnant of the World Trade Center incorporated into a 9/11 memorial that her son helped to design during its installation at Fenton Fire Department's memorial ceremony honoring those lost in the 9/11 attacks on the 15 year anniversary Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016 in Fenton, Mich.

Flint resident Dolores Garcia was selected by the city to have her pipes replaced to help protect from lead poisoning. "[The water] was terrible," Garcia said. "They lent me some bottle for them to test [the water] and that’s where they got me. They came here two, three times to test. They fixed [the pipe] and I’m happy, but I haven’t gotten better water. I don’t drink it. I’ve just been using the bottled water. I don’t use the water for nothing, only for my bath [and dishes]. They’re still testing [the water] once every month until February and they’re sending me papers. I won’t drink it until I know that…it is good water." 

Walter Johnson, an employee of Republic Waste Services, collects garbage from Maricela Gonzalez, 4, of Flint, during his rounds on Friday, August 5, 2016 in Flint, Mich. Republic Waste Services continues to collect trash on an interim basis while the city of Flint and its Mayor Karen Weaver's administration work out the details of the city's garbage contract.

Taryn Shappell, a San Franciscan mother of three, helps her 21-month-old twins, Ezra and Eve, to get ready to take her three-year-old son, Benton to preschool. San Francisco has one of the lowest child per capita percentages of any major city in the United States. Less than 14 percent of the city’s population is under the age of 18. The real estate prices continue to rise as new tech businesses move into the area, which puts pressure on families to move away from the city because of the high costs for limited space. The “middle class” San Franciscan family has become a scarcity. “It feels like there’s a divide of people who come in for the short term to make money, but they never plan to stay,” said Taryn Shappell, a San Francisco resident. “And then there’s folks like us, who hope to be here for the long haul.” Shappell and her husband, Jarrod Shappell, moved to the Bay area in 2009 for their work. Four years ago, the couple settled into their current two bedroom apartment in San Francisco after finding out they were expecting their first child. About two years later, the couple found out they were having twins. “Figuring out how to raise a family, especially with more than one kid, it’s like a secret club,” Shappell said.  Shappell said that it’s fairly easy to find a family with one child, two is rare, but having three children is practically unheard of in the city.

Doris Cook embraces her husband, Luther Cook. Doris suffers from late stages of of Alzheimer's disease. In her current state, she can initiate very little interaction with people verbally or physically. Luther's poor health makes it challenging for him to care for his wife, and he treasures the tender moment.“She is the bravest woman I know,” Luther said. “She agreed to marry me when I had no degree, no job, nowhere to live and the buttons on all my shirts had popped off.”

Jeremy Betz of Celestine, right, looks for debris to clear outside the home of his aunt and uncle, Kathy and Ed Vollmer, in Ireland on Wednesday, March 2, 2017. Over 30 friends and family members helped the Vollmer's sift through the damage after a tornado destroyed the couple's home early Wednesday morning.

Flint police officers padlock Liquor Plus Mini Mart after a temporary restraining order was granted by Genesee Circuit Judge Judith Fullerton against the business and its owner on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016 on the north side of Flint, Michigan. Three shootings have occurred outside the Liquor Plus Mini Mart since July 29, including the death of 27-year-old Corandis Jenkins, a teenager shot at a vigil for Jenkins and a 10-year-old who was shot inside a vehicle. The restraining order is valid for seven days, in which time Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton will try to have the business closed for an extended period of time.

Deanna Davis, 3, of Flint, watches as people head to their cars as the rain starts to fall during the Back to School Fair on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016 in Flint, Michigan.

After pitching several consecutive walks, Enny Romero takes a break in the dugout during a game against the Norfolk Tides at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. 

Paul Averette tosses fallen limbs and brush into a fire at his home in Raleigh. 

Gerald Barrett, of Flint, gives Malaika Bradley, 7, of Flint, a kiss at the annual Flint Jazz Festival on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016 in Flint. 

Cowboys and cowgirls trot around the arena to prepare to compete during the 14th Gaines Community Rodeo at in Gaines, M.I. The rodeo featured steer wrestling, cattle roping and bull riding, as well as other events and activities that drew out hundreds of spectators from Genesee County.

Joel James of North Carolina goes up for a layup as Will Freeman of Guilford attempts to block the shot during the men's preseason exhibition game at the Dean Smith Center on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015. UNC defeated Guilford 99-49.

Jasper senior Brett Louviere, left, wrestled Geordon Terwiske down into the mud after playing in Wednesday's mud volleyball tournament at Jasper High School. The senior class persisted through the rain in order to partake in their traditional mud volleyball tournament during their last week of school.

Southridge's Grant Maxey slid into home plate as Forest Park's Carson Hoffman attempted to tag him out during Saturday's game at League Stadium in Huntingburg.

Forest Park's student section cheered on the Rangers during Friday night's Class 2A sectional semifinal at Memorial Gym in Huntingburg. Forest Park defeated Tell City 31-27.

Southridge's Wyatt Kramer held onto Jasper's Logan Smith while competing in the 285-pound weight bracket during the I.H.S.A.A. Wrestling Sectional Saturday afternoon at Huntingburg Memorial Gym in Huntingburg. Southridge wrestling team was named the I.H.S.A.A. Wrestling Sectional champions. 

Jasper's coach Steve Milligan talked to Evan Wolfe before he teed off during a match against Southridge on Wednesday at Buffalo Trace Golf Course in Jasper. Jasper beat Southridge 157-180.

New Lothrop players Mason Ruddy, no. 3, and Travis Indlekofer, no. 71, kneel and pray with their teammates after New Lothrop's victory against Bentley High School on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016 at Bentley High School in Burton. New Lothrop won 56-0.

Jasper's Destiny Lane raced in the 100-yard freestyle during the swim meet at Jasper High School on Tuesday. Jasper beat Southridge with a combined score of 231-115.

Forest Park's Blake Mohr took a lead in the 100-meter hurdles followed by Northeast Dubois' Alan Kerstiens, left, and Jasper's Raife Milligan during the Dubois-Pike Invitational on Thursday in Jasper.

L.T. Cousineau, of Chicago, climbs an obstacle during the Warrior Dash race on Saturday, July 30, 2016 at E.A. Cummings Center in Genesee Township. The Warrior Dash course is approximately 3 miles long with 12 obstacles that requires runners to crawl through mud, scale walls, climb through cargo nets and run down dirt trails.

The Forest Park team surrounded the Ranger's "number one fan" Ryan Kempf of Bretzville after Saturday night's Class 2A sectional championship game at Memorial Gym in Huntingburg. Forest Park defeated Mater Dei 44-43.

Southridge's Jack Michel tried to bring his opponent down while competing in the 195-pound weight bracket during the I.H.S.A.A. Wrestling Sectional Saturday afternoon at Huntingburg Memorial Gym in Huntingburg. Southridge wrestling team was named the I.H.S.A.A. Wrestling Sectional champions.

Forest Park's Trever Zink, center, and his teammates held up the Class 2A sectional championship trophy after Saturday night's championship game at Memorial Gym in Huntingburg. Forest Park defeated Mater Dei 44-43.

Flint Southwestern quarterback Zameer Wallace kneels while listening to his coach after a tough loss in the final seconds of the game against Mount Pleasant High School on Friday, Sept. 30, 2016 at Kettering University's Atwood Stadium in Flint, Mich. Mt Pleasant beat Flint Southwestern 14-13. 

As an infant, the doctors diagnosed Autum Hall, 47, with a rare condition called  Idiopathic Bronchiectasis, a lung condition where the lungs' airways become permanently enlarged by an unknown cause. The lungs progressively lose their elasticity and are unable to push out the air trapped within the lungs. 
 
Autum’s lungs functioned around 16 percent. There is no cure for this condition and doctors have told Autum that she is approaching her "window" for a double lung transplant.
 
Lung transplants are incredibly high-risk operations. About 80 percent of people who receive lung transplants survive the first year. Each year following, there is an average of 10 percent who do not survive. 
 
"I don't want a lung transplant," Autum said. "It's like starting your clock."

Autum’s doctor told her that she would need to relocate to Durham to prepare to be listed. She and her husband, Mitch Hall, wait to speak with the surgeon about Autum’s transplant at Duke University Hospital. 
 
“I always felt like [a transplant] was on the back-burner,” Autum said. “It was kind of a surprise when [the doctors] said, ‘we think there’s been enough of a decline.’ [My physician] mentioned ‘worry' a couple times and that’s not a word you want to hear the doctor say.”

“I’ve not felt limited by [my condition],” Autum said. “I’ve had limitations, but I’ve always known what they were.”

“Once you go through that door [to receive a transplant], there’s no going back,” Autum said. “[A transplant] is not a complete cure. You’re just trading one set of problems for another.” 
 
Autum takes one last walk through her closet to collect what she needs before moving from her home in Autryville to Durham.

Autum attends pulmonary rehab multiple times a week to prepare her body for the surgery and recovery process. 
 
"It's exhausting," Autum said. "I wake up and I think, ‘I'm stronger than I thought I was physically,’ and I just keep pushing."

“I’m cautiously excited [for the transplant],” Autum said. “I don’t know what to expect, but I’m hoping it will be something wonderful.”
 
Transplant candidates are chosen based on a lung allocation score that measures various factors of the candidate's condition. This score helps determine whether that person is suitable to be listed for a transplant.

On November 21, 2015, Autum received a call that a pair of lungs had been approved for her transplant. Mitch and Autum’s best friend, Kelli McPhail, take her hands and lift her up in prayer before she is taken to the operating room.
 
"I have faith in God's timing," Autum said. "I wake up every morning and the first thing I do is say a prayer of thanksgiving for the day and then get started, because every day is a gift."

Autum's old lungs wait to be discarded after the operation. 
 
"The support group that I participate in and the people that have shared their experiences have been invaluable to me throughout this process," Autum said. "Maybe one day somebody will hear my story and will be encouraged."

Duke University Hospital performs about 100 lung transplants every year. Autum is the 1,610th lung transplant performed at Duke.

Autum's surgeon, Dr. Mani Daneshmand, updates Autum's family and friends after the surgery. He explains that Autum’s body did not respond well when they hooked her up to the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, and they had to use the defibrillator to bring her back. The ECMO machine works in place of the lungs to oxygenate the blood during the surgery.

Mitch comforts his and Autum's daughter, Alyssa George, as they see Autum for the first time following the surgery.
 
“It doesn’t really even look like her,” Mitch said after seeing his wife.

Autum's nurse helps her to the bed after walking two laps with a walker. 

"I'm not in pain," Autum said. "It's uncomfortable sometimes, but I'm not in pain."

After three surgeries and 53 days in the hospital, Autum was cleared to return to her apartment in Durham on January 13, 2016. 
 
“I think once I get out of these walls, I’ll really be able to start to improve,” Autum said.

Autum meets her two-week-old grandson for the first time when she arrives at her apartment in Durham. Autum anticipates three more months of rehab before she will be cleared to return to her home in Autryville. 
 
“It’s a long process,” Autum said. “But one well worth the pain of getting there.”

    As a child, Essence Garlington's family noticed she had an unusual tendency to run into things. After seeking medical attention, the doctor determined that Essence had nystagmus, a rapid, involuntary eye movement that prevents the eyes from focusing properly. 
    Essence is a senior in high school at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh. She doesn't consider herself blind. 
    "I guess I'm in the middle," she said. "I can see pretty well, where if I was in public school I could identify with most of the things that they were seeing, but there's also the points where they're like, 'oh, look at this!' and I'm like 'what? I can't see that.'"

    Essence began attending the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh halfway through her freshman year of high school. 
    "When I first got here I didn't talk to anybody for months," she said. "I was mad for a long time…I [still] don't want to be here. My answer still hasn't changed. I mean, I'm use to it now, and I've made friends and all that, but I still kind of miss being with my old friends and being in public school."

    Essence rubs her eye as she waits for breakfast. The school keeps a very structured weekly schedule for the students to follow from the time they wake up in the morning until lights out in the evening.
    "It can be frustrating," she said. "Sometimes I miss just being able to come home from school, eat a snack and just chill. It's different having to have structured time every time you're ready to do your own thing."

    "It feels like an island," Essence said. "You feel like you're just here in this little place all the time. Then when you come home, you're outside the island where things are speedy and fast and where everybody is going and talking."

    Like most of the students at GMS, Essence lives at the school from Sunday evening until Friday afternoon and then travels on a bus back to Charlotte to visit her family for the weekend.
    "Lately, when I go home, I'm just really tired from off the bus, so I just go home and chill for a little bit or sleep," Essence said. "And then Saturday, if they have something planned, we do that or whatever. Sunday, I'm getting ready to come back up here."

    When Essence travels to Charlotte each weekend, she stays with her older sister, Shana Phillips, her husband, Rico, and their four-year-old son, Rico Jr.
    "My sisters are like my best friends," Essence said. "When we all get together, it's just like one big crazy party!"

    Shana spreads Essence's eyelids open to take a closer look at her iris after reading about the eye in a textbook. 
    "You have really pretty eyes, Essence," Shana said. 
    Shana is currently taking online classes to become a nursing assistant.

    Shana and her four-year-old son Rico Jr. vie for Essence's attention during her weekend visit. 
    "It's like our own little chill space," Essence said. "When you want to relax and watch movies and hang with your family that's where you can just be."

    The sisters share a special relationship filled with love and support for each other. 
     "I'm so proud of the person she's become," Shana said.
     "My sister calls me her personal therapist," Essence said. 

    Essence bounces on a ball in the gym at GMS during a free period before classes start in the morning. 
    "People here are a little different," she said. "They've been here a while, and they're a lot more sheltered then the people I'm use to hanging out [with]…sometimes I feel like I've missed out on the regular stuff because this school's a lot smaller and of course they're blind, so things are a little different."

    Essence helps her classmate submit an assignment online during a class that consists of just the two of them. 
    "I love the teachers here because they each have something different and most of them are pretty fun," Essence said. "I'm not one for smaller classes because I don't like raising my hand, and so when your class is really, really small your teacher just kind of calls on you."

    Essence looks out the window as she climbs stairs at GMS.
    "I want to go to college, which is really hard to get ready for," she said as she thinks about the future. "Hopefully, one day, I'll open up my own little [therapy] office, so I won't have to work for somebody all the time. I'll be my own boss and have my own customers and in-and-out service…I want my own house…and that's all I know so far."

There’s a special energy that radiates from the active and imaginative 11-year-old Carson Dominick. 

Christina and Paul Dominick of Swartz Creek knew their baby would face challenges after ultrasounds detected that his heart only had two chambers instead of four. 

This congenital heart defect has kept Carson in and out of surgeries as he continues to fight the odds. 

Despite the risk and uncertainty of their son’s condition, the Dominick family chooses to embrace each day with equal enthusiasm. Carson doesn’t expect or want to be coddled, and contributes to the home's liveliness while sandwiched between his two sisters. 

"What we've seen is the strength a little boy can have from being a tiny baby to what he is now,” Paul said. “It's been an amazing journey and I hope that journey just keeps on going for a very long time."

Paul hugs his son before they leave on a weekend hunting trip sponsored by the Flint Safari Club. 

Growing up in Michigan, Carson has an appetite for deer jerky and is surrounded by family and friends who hunt. 

When a friend nominated Carson for the Safari Club's annual "Wish Hunt." Carson was ecstatic. The hunt allows a disabled child and parent the opportunity to learn about gun safety and hunt a deer.  

Carson plays a hunting video game while relaxing at home after school.

Carson takes a break from playing video games to take his morning medicine. 

Although Carson's parents have tried to give him a normal childhood, his condition has kept him from participating in typical experiences like sports and birthday parties. 

A simple cold could be catastrophic to his body and intense exercise taxes his heart and turns his lips blue. 

Carson sits eagerly in a Ranger while listening to the plan for the day. 

Carson uses the cart to travel to and from the blinds.

"He was excited, but nervous," Paul said. "He didn't know what to expect and I didn't know what to expect."

Carson's father explained that it's not always easy for him to have fun or feel comfortable because of his limitations. This experience offered him an opportunity to grow more confident in his abilities to accomplish something. 

Carson practices on different types of shotguns before the hunt to determine which one he felt most comfortable shooting. 

Carson and his father trudge through high grass to look for the buck Carson shot.

"The smirk after he shot the gun and hit the deer...said it all," Paul said. "[That is] the biggest things that stand out to me because after that it's just seeing him smile and knowing that he's having fun and he's comfortable." 

Paul and Carson look at a deer skull found in the woods after leaving a blind.

For Paul, the trip allowed him to grow closer to his son. It created time to express their feelings and talk while watching deer.

"We don't get a lot of one on one time to just talk in a family of mostly ladies," Paul said laughingly.  

Carson watches as the men help him drag the deer back to the truck to be skinned and cleaned.

Carson watches from a distance as the buck he shot is gutted and cleaned. 

"Watching him shoot a gun at 11, and just being very comfortable and calm...he taught me how to be calm and collected," Paul said.

Carson calls his mom when they arrive home to their cabin to tell her about his day and celebrate the hunt.

After watching Carson's shot caught on film, Carson celebrates with the team who helped sponsor the hunt.

"He felt like he was kind of in control when we were out there and I kind of stepped back and let him be a big boy," Paul said. "Watching him get that experience just fulfilled me as a father."

Carson's mother Christina embraces her son at home and gives him a big kiss. 

Carson's sisters Madison, left, and Morgan tie him up while playing together after school at their home in Swartz Creek. 

"[As] I've seen him grow up, he's become like my little hero," Paul said. "Even though he has this medical issue...this kid can do all these things that I never thought that he was going to be able to do."