She is my why.
I know that cancer, heartbreakingly, touches every one of us at some point.
It took my mom in 2012.
Before that, my dad had most of a lung removed (and is thankfully now cancer-free).
It stole my son-in-law’s sweet mama—my precious co-Grandma—from us far too soon.
And in April 2019, it came for my beautiful niece, Sami.
She was only 28.
By July, she had endured a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
In January 2020, the cancer returned. She faced a lumpectomy, followed by grueling chemotherapy and radiation. Words no young woman should have to know became part of her daily life.
In the midst of it all, Sami and her husband, Justin, welcomed their greatest blessing—a baby girl named Lyla Grace. Just three months later, Sami’s cancer metastasized. We lost her, and our hearts are forever broken.
Sami is my why. She is the reason I believe that life—and love—must be celebrated now, while we have it. Time is a gift, and portraits are a way to hold it close, even when life changes everything.
Through our In the Garden: Children’s Collection, we’re giving back to honor Sami’s legacy. When you book your session in our garden, we donate $20 on your behalf to the Sami Faith Foundation, helping families touched by cancer.
Join us. Stand with us. Create something beautiful, meaningful, and lasting—for yourself, for someone you love, for your “why.”
Because tomorrow is never promised, but love… love lasts forever.
Learn more here about Sami's journey - https://www.samistrong.net/
