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Mom Breastfeeds Baby After Mastectomy In Powerful Photo

Perfect.

"Strength, love, and pure raw beauty."

That's how Florida photographer Kate Murray described the moment she captured a breast cancer patient feeding her baby after a mastectomy.

And there's no better way to put it.

This is the definition of strength, love, and pure raw beauty. Mom was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer halfway...

Posted by Kate Murray Photography on Thursday, 23 April 2015

The mother in the photo above was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer while she was pregnant. She went through chemotherapy and had one breast removed while carrying her baby.

Her pregnancy was induced when she was 36 weeks in so she could continue receiving treatment. She later gave birth to a lovely baby boy who learned how to feed very quickly.

Murray captured him feeding in a pair of photos she posted on her Facebook page.

"Breastfeeding is such a sacred bond, and this one just makes my heart break and swell at the same time," Murray said in a Facebook post that has been shared over 91,000 times.

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation estimates that as many as one in nine women will experience the condition in their lifetime, with as many as 24,400 of them diagnosed with it.

A mastectomy is just one kind of treatment; it involves removing a breast and nipple as well as some underarm lymph nodes.

A lumpectomy, meanwhile, can remove just the cancerous part of the breast as well as tissue surrounding it.

Actress Angelina Jolie has revealed that she had a preventative double mastectomy after she found out she was at a genetic risk of developing breast cancer.

Performer Rita Wilson, who has breast cancer, also had a double mastectomy.

Jolie's revelation has led to a doubling in the number of women who consider genetic testing to see if they're at risk of the disease, says research by doctors at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital.

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