Tatum Leigh Harbin was born, on August 14 2014, a healthy baby girl. Two months later she was diagnosed with SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). Six months later, February 15, 2015 she passed away.

SMA is a rare genetic neuromuscular disease that affects the part of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement. It is the number one genetic cause of death for infants.

I had the honor of taking Tatum's newborn pictures with her precious mom and dad, Kayla and Gary. I will always remember her three month photo session. Even though she was not able to support herself to sit, she was still so smiley and happy. Her precious smile was contagious. She even got to meet Santa when she was almost 4 months old. Unfortunately, that was the last photo session we had together. We had her six month session planned, but we postponed it because she had a cold and couldn't be around more germs. A day or two later, she ended up in the hospital and never cam back home.

Tatum's family's dedication to finding a cure for SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) is the inspiration for "Tatum's Tales." In 2017, I asked Kayla (Tatum's mom) to write a blog series about Tatum's story. This lead to the series "Tatum's Tales." There are two parts to the story and part 3 is coming soon. Things were delayed when Covid hit in 2020 and I'm excited to relaunch and bring this series back!

Tatum's Tales

Tatum's Tales features the stories of other children whom have rare genetic diseases, syndromes or other special kids on my blog. If you know someone that would like to be featured please email me at: sarahthompsonprice@gmail.com