We'd only been married five months when our world fell apart

When Angelo met Jennifer, he knew he'd met 'the one'. He was applying for a job at a bar and grill when he saw her pull up in a little black car and climb out.

"It wasn't just that Jennifer was beautiful, more beautiful than anyone I ever saw in my life, there was just this energy coming from her."

Jennifer didn't feel the same about him but Angelo attributes his stubborn nature with the fact he didn't give up on her. He proposed six months after they started dating and they were married less than a year later.

Five months into their marriage, Jennifer Merendino was diagnosed with breast cancer, beat it, then it came back in her liver and bones.

Angelo had always taken photos of his beautiful wife so when she received her diagnosis and Angelo felt numb, he coped by taking even more photos of her.

"It was this new world we had no idea how to navigate through," Angelo told TV show Applause. "Our family and friends were right there with us...they sent dinner...without them I don't know how we could have made it through that time."

The diagnosis was a blow to the couple who thought they had forever to be together. Four years later, in December 2011, she passed away at the age of 40, but not before her husband recorded every moment of her journey.

Angelo says family and friends didn't really understand what they were going through after the cancer came back worse than ever. "That's when we started thinking well if people see what we are going through, people meaning our family and friends, then maybe they'll understand. A photograph is such a powerful way to describe things."

He says January of 2011 was when he started photographing everything. Anything that moved him was captured forever.

It's been hard for this grieving husband to move on from what he has lost. His beautiful and confronting photos have been shared around the world. This inspired him to take his project one step further and start The Love You Share, a non-profit organization whose mission it is to provide financial assistance to women in need while they are receiving treatment for breast cancer. His photos have been made into a book called The Battle We Didn’t Choose and 50 per cent of the profits will go to the cause.

View this husband's stunning chronicle of his wife's illness and make sure to visit his website here for even more photos and posts sharing their beautiful love story.

Image credit: Angelo Merendino