Pulitzer Prize Photograph

"After placing a flower beside her son's head, a sobbing Cyndie drops to the floor on April 25, as her best friend, Kelly Whysong, left, and another friend, Nick Rocha, comfort her. Derek is too weak to acknowledge his mother's presence as she keeps a 24-hour vigil by his bed."

As the caption above explains, this mother breaks down sobbing as she keeps watch over her dying son. This photo is one in a sequence by 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner Renee C. Byer. It depicts the struggle this single mother goes through as she watches her youngest son lose his battle with cancer. Throughout the sequence of photographs you see times when she appeared to be enjoying herself as she celebrated with her son the life he had left. Other times you see her trying desperately to maintain her composure for the sake of her son, and times like this you see her completely break down. This photograph portrays the struggle parents face when raising children, and the helplessness a parent feels when their child is sick and they cannot do anything to help. This sequence of photographs hit very close to home for me. Though I haven’t felt the pain of losing a child, I have lost loved ones to cancer. I have seen the effects chemotherapy and radiation have on the body, and I know what it feels like to sit and watch someone fight cancer, and not be able to help them. The use of black and white photography, rather than color, emphasizes the struggle the mother faces. The loss of color in the photo emphasizes the loss of hope, the loss of life.