This mother wanted her son to have photos to understand her breast cancer journey

By Zayrha Rodriguez,

Angelica Edwards

Published October 31, 2021 at 7:13 AM EDT

In 2015, Keyla "Nunny" Reece felt a lump in her breast, got it checked out and was told it was a benign cyst. Two years later, a new lump was discovered under her armpit. At the age of 39, doctors diagnosed her with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in June 2017.

Photographer Angelica Edwards met Keyla "Nunny" Reece when she took an assignment to cover a story about hospital parking fees for her student newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In 2015, Reece, of Hope Mills, N.C., felt a lump in her breast, got it checked out and was told it was a benign cyst. Two years later, she felt an additional lump, this time under her armpit, while simultaneously experiencing skin blotches and extreme back pain.

In June 2017, doctors diagnosed Reece with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. It had spread to her ribs, lungs, spine and pelvis.

After the initial photo assignment, Edwards contacted Reece to see if she would allow her to document her journey.

Reece was excited to share her story. She said she wanted her son, Ryan, who was 10 years old at the time, to be able to look back and understand what his mother went through as he got older and she was no longer here.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. As the month ends, we take an intimate look at Reece's breast cancer journey through pictures.