The photographer Renée C. Byer won the Pulitzer 2007, the prestigious journalistic award, for a great photographic report entitled "A mother's journey" (The trip of a mother) about the last months of Derek's life, an American child suffering from cancer, and the revelations of his mother, Cyndie French, a single mother of five children.
The photographer and a reporter were exceptional witnesses for months of all aspects that surrounded her medical treatment and through words, photographs and videos give testimony of the progressive deterioration that the child suffers, and the ravages that cancer causes in family dynamics and in the domestic economy.
When Derek was diagnosed with neuroblastoma (a common malignant tumor in children with cancer), his mother had to sell her business, send her daughter under 6 to live with her father, and she was forced to neglect her older children, who they began to have problems of school performance and, even, one left home after a bitter discussion. To overcome the expenses derived from the disease, he also occasionally worked where he could, even washing cars.
The report was published in the California newspaper Sacramento Bee and journalists intended raise awareness on the harsh reality of childhood cancer in a country like the US, technologically highly developed but with insufficient and poor public health coverage.
The report shows pain, anguish, anger, despair and helplessness but also courage, love, faith, courage and hope of a mother who renounces everything and everyone for accompanying her son in those moments. Here you have 40 photos.
These are the words of the photographer: "It was a gift that allowed me to be there. Throughout the process, and due to the moments I witnessed, I had the vision that I could bring hope to other families. I was inspired by the love and devotion of a mother who made every moment count for her son despite all the forecasts "
Derek did not survive physically but his history and his solidarity in a foundation created in his memory, Dereks-wish, to help families in their situation. His photos were exhibited in Spain thanks to the Oncology Children's Association of the Community of Madrid (Asion).
This week in which we celebrate Mother's Day, I believe that this testimony faithfully reflects the unconditional surrender that a mother can make when circumstances demand it, and that it is urgent that society be more compressive and equitable with needs of children and their families.
