My mother kept her cancer secret and we didn't know till the very end that she had it. She was dying when I made this picture but only she knew it. She passed away a couple months after I made this photograph. I very rarely do portraits but I must have sensed the end was near. Her greatest joy in life was reading but she was virtually blind for the last years of her life. When this print came up in the developer (after her death) it moved me.
She exudes strength in this portrait of yours. Good to see your images appearing in the standard gallery where more people will be able to see and enjoy them