This Empowering Photo Series Shows What It's Like to Be a Mom When You Have Cancer

Giedre Gomes — a photographer who has a knack for illustrating parenthood in its rawest form — recently completed a project for Mother's Day that is near and dear to her heart. In honor of a recent cancer diagnosis, Giedre set out to capture photos of other mothers who are tackling the disease head on, and the shots are stunning.

"Four days before my 36th birthday, I got the news that changed my life forever," Giedre told POPSUGAR. "A year ago, I was diagnosed with BRCA1 gene — the same gene that Angelina Jolie has — which means we have a high risk of getting breast cancer and ovarian cancer due to the family history. And just like Angelina, I decided to do a preventive double mastectomy with nipple spearing and reconstruction. Ten days later, I went in for a checkup to find out that I am now a stage 1 triple negative breast cancer survivor."

"My cancer diagnosis was an eye-opener for me, only now I started to really live," she explained. "I thank God for every day spent with my kids and family. Every day for me is a gift. I spend more time with my kids doing things, making memories and not just existing. The minute I was all healed up from the surgery — I took them out for pictures, and that gave me an idea to photograph moms going through cancer treatments and their children because I'm sure they had to feel the same way I did. With medical bills piling up, not everyone can afford a professional photographer."

After getting in touch with a few local fighters and survivors, Giedre got to work. "I wanted to show all the strong cancer fighters, fighting for their lives, to be with their children, cancer can't stop them from being moms and spending time with their families," she explained. "Cancer does not discriminate, it doesn't care if you are a mom, if you have one kid or 12."

Read through to see all the beautiful moms who are going through breast, colon, and thyroid cancers.