"Larry, my husband, is a photographer. He first discovered his cancer in 2012. In a way, cancer was what gave him the courage to finally pursue photography as a career in 2018. In August 2020, a day after our younger daughter’s first birthday, my husband received news that the tumour in his nasal cavity had grown and was pushing against his right eye as well as his brain. Within weeks, with few options available, he had to make a difficult decision to undergo a major surgery...

Naadira and I got to know each other on Instagram after both our husbands died a month apart at the end of 2022. We weren't acquainted before then, but in each other, we felt seen and understood, connected by the death of our husbands, widowhood, and parenting two young bereaved children...