Man honors wife by documenting her cancer battle through pictures

Man honors wife by documenting her cancer battle through pictures

(Angelo Meredino)


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NEW YORK CITY — It's been over a year and a half since Angelo Meredino's wife Jen passed away from breast cancer, but their story is still inspiring people through the photos Angelo took of Jen's battle with cancer.

The photos have made the rounds on the internet this past week thanks to a post on Reddit and many readers were moved by the photo essay. "I've never once cried from something I found on Reddit. Not until now," wrote one Redditor. "I wish my dad had chronicled my mother's life and death like this. I miss her all the time. This was beautiful and painful and I appreciate it immensely," writes another.

Jen walking down the street in New York.
Jen walking down the street in New York. (Photo: Angelo Meredino)

Love at first sight may seem too cliché to happen in real life, but that's the only way Angelo can describe the first time he met Jen.

"The first time I saw Jennifer, I knew," Angelo wrote on his website My Wife's Battle with Cancer. " I knew she was the one. I knew, just like my dad when he sang to his sisters in the winter of 1951 after meeting my mom for the first time, 'I found her.'"


I remember the exact moment…Jen's voice and the numb feeling that enveloped me. That feeling has never left.

–Angelo Meredino


Angelo moved to New York for Jen and asked her to marry him shortly after. Less than a year later, they were married in Central Park in front of family and friends. They lived a blissful five months until Jen got the devastating news.

"I remember the exact moment…Jen's voice and the numb feeling that enveloped me," Angelo wrote. "That feeling has never left."

Jen was diagnosed with breast cancer at the young age of 39. She was in constant pain from the treatments and eventually had to use a walker to get around. Four years of chemo took a toll on her body.

Jen pushing the button for pain medicine.
Jen pushing the button for pain medicine. (Photo: Angelo Meredino)

Angelo started taking pictures to document their day-to-day life because he wanted to "humanize" the face of cancer and show that the battle is not won once cancer is found and treated. It's a constant, agonizing journey past that last IV of chemo.


People turn away from the day-to-day of cancer a little more which I understand. It's painful. Before Jen and I went through this, I didn't know what it was like either.

–Angelo Meredino


"Sadly, most people do not want to hear these realities and at certain points we felt our support fading away," Angelo wrote. "People assume that treatment makes you better, that things become OK, that life goes back to 'normal.' However, there is no normal in cancer-land."

Angelo's pictures are breathtaking and piercing at the same time: the time Angelo shaved Jen's head; a swim in the ocean; pain from a round of chemo; friends visiting around a recliner.

They show Jen's moments of immense pain and her quiet moments of joy. The photos bring to life what cancer really looks like on the face of a young woman. It is at times shocking, but it's reality for the many people who go through these treatments.

Jen resting in bed at home.
Jen resting in bed at home. (Photo: Angelo Meredino)

"People turn away from the day-to-day of cancer a little more which I understand. It's painful," Angelo told the Huffington Post. "Before Jen and I went through this, I didn't know what it was like either."

The last few photos of the essay are lonely and tender: a photo of her empty hospital bed and her headstone.

Angelo says the site and his blog have been a "great comfort and strength" as he's dealt with his grief from Jen's passing.

"It at least makes me feel like we made something positive out of something horrible," Angelo said.

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Tracie Snowder

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