In 2012, her 6-year-old son, Colin, was diagnosed with leukemia. That same year, her father died from ALS. In 2013, her house flooded and the family lost everything in the basement. And in 2014, the single mother of two was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Cheryl thought that it wasn’t possible for both her and Colin to make it through cancer alive, but she hoped that her son would be the one to survive. Allowing Smith to take photos would ensure that the family was in photos together — that her children could remember her through the images and know that she fought to beat cancer and be there for them.

Smith gained Cheryl’s trust and began to visit regularly. He was there for the appointments, the treatments, the surgeries — and the very worst days after those treatments when Cheryl was in the kind of pain that she can only describe as “bone-melting.”

Cheryl had tried her hardest to make Colin’s leukemia navigable. By using pamphlets from the cancer care center, they had educated the teachers and children in his school about what Colin was enduring — and in turn, he became the school rock star rather than an outcast.

In a rare moment, as her hair, eyelashes and eyebrows began to disappear after the chemotherapy, Cheryl caught herself looking in the mirror and tearing up.