(WRIC/ABC) — There’s nothing stronger than a bond between a mother and her child. That’s why when Anna Bozman Thompson lost her eldest son to a battle with leukemia six months ago, she couldn’t imagine taking family photos without him… especially on her wedding day.
And she didn’t have to.
Last month, when Anna married her longtime boyfriend Travis Thompson in Colbert, Georgia, she asked her friend and photographer Brandy Angel to Photoshop Thompson’s son, Lake, into the pictures.
Angel said it wasn’t easy, but with a friend’s help, she was able to make it happen and fulfill Thompson’s wish.
“There’s not really a word for this experience,” Angel said. “It makes me feel good to make her feel better even if it’s in a little way.”
On the day before the wedding, the Thompson family visited the location where the photo shoot would take place. There was a beautiful rainbow in the sky, which they associated with Lake, Angel said.
Angel recalled joking with the Thompsons, saying, “I wonder how Lake will show out tomorrow.”
“Oh, he’ll show out tomorrow,” Thompson replied.
And so he did. On the big day, Angel said she felt like she was witnessing a miracle.
“After I started editing the photos … I was completely covered in chills. The light moved around them, it never changed shape, it never changed color,” Angel said.
Angel texted Anna Thompson the night of her wedding with screen shots of the unedited photos, Thompson told ABC News.
“I started crying and got the chills. I feel like our family was complete, even though he’s not physically here, the light comforted me,” Thompson said. “We are still a family of five even though there are only four of us here.”
