Local girl gets camera package from Make-A-Wish

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted the wish of a local girl, gifting her with camera equipment to help the budding photographer.

At just nine years old, Port Kennedy’s Tegan Kelly woke up one morning with a swollen knee, which was soon diagnosed as juvenile idiopathic polyarthritis.

Now, nine years later, at 18, Tegan faces regular physiotherapy sessions, appointments with pain specialists, infusions and other treatments, but she has not let that stop her.

Last week she was given her Make-A-Wish gift, which included a camera body, four lenses, a camera bag and other items, which were supplied by Mandurah Camera House.

In her first year of a Diploma of Photography and Photo Imaging at TAFE, Tegan said the gift would help her develop her skills.

Part of the gift also included a photography workshop from Canon, with a Rockingham photographer also offering to run a workshop with her.

Mum Cindy Beasland thanked the organisation and businesses that helped organise the gifts, saying they had “helped to lift” her daughter’s spirit.