It’s not often that our reporters or photographers will work on a story for many months, let alone more than a year. But this Saturday’s story is an example of our best work, and it needed that much time.

It’s a story about a Vancouver mother who has risen above drug addiction, housing struggles and grief from her husband’s death. It is special in many ways beyond the time it took to report, photograph, write and lay it out on our pages. It shows what some people in our community are facing and how they’re overcoming those massive struggles.

I asked reporter Mia Ryder-Marks and photographer Amanda Cowan to write about how their story came together. It will help readers understand what our talented journalists must do to try to capture a special story like this.

Mia: Monica and I met in

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