Texas couple honor late children with emotional photo

A family painting now hanging above the fireplace
in Tony and Laura McBride’s Texas home holds
special meaning because it is a portrait the
couple never thought would be possible. The
portrait, photographed over the Thanksgiving
holiday, shows the McBrides appearing to walk
with the angelic-looking shadows of three young
children.
The children in the photo represent the three
children the McBrides say they lost at birth.
“We just wanted to reference a point in
time,” Laura McBride, 40, told ABC News.
“Christopher would be 22, Tyler would be
almost 18 and Kieran Shane would be just
over one-year-old.”
“When you lose a child early at birth, it’s
uncomfortable and people don’t talk about
it and women just live with it, so it’s nice
to have this tangible memory,” McBride
said.
McBride said she got the idea for the photo last
year when she saw a story about a Georgia-
based photographer, Brandy Angel, who gave a
bride the gift of having her deceased son included
in her wedding photos.
“I saw it and thought, ‘Oh my goodness,”
McBride said. “I knew Brandy was in
Georgia and I didn’t know how that would
work but something compelled me to call.”
“I told her we live in Texas and she said
she was going to be in Texas over
Thanksgiving,” she continued. “She was
going to be in Killeen which is only an hour
away. We knew that was divine
intervention.”
McBride wanted to surprise her husband for
Christmas so she told him that it was a family
photo shoot that included their in-laws and nieces
and nephews. Angel asked to take a shot of just
the couple together and then, after the photo
shoot, got to work adding in the images of their
children.
Angel worked on the photo with Heather Pinheiro,
a New Jersey-based web designer who donates
her time.
“We went back and forth with ideas on how
to accomplish what Laura wanted,” Angel
said. “What Heather created was so
stunning I was speechless.”
McBride says her husband was equally stunned
on Christmas morning when he unwrapped the
photo.
“He cried,” McBride said, tearing up herself.
“He was very surprised and very moved and
said it was his favorite gift ever.” “What a
great memory and comfort it is,” she said