Mom with breast cancer feeds newborn baby in emotional photos

Sarah Whitney was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant with her third child.

During her pregnancy, Whitney had a unilateral mastectomy to remove one of her breasts and began chemotherapy shortly after, according to Whitney's midwife office, Gentle Birth Options.

In April, at 36 weeks, Whitney was induced and delivered "a perfectly healthy boy," according to an April 23 Facebook post from Gentle Birth Options.

Photographer Kate Murray captured pictures of Whitney, of Florida, as she breastfed her newborn son Kal El for the first time , Northwest Florida Daily News reported.

"After he was born he latched to her right breast all on his own, and the room was full of emotion," according to the Facebook post. "These images show the incredible strength and love through the art of breastfeeding."

The photos had over 300,000 likes on Facebook in April and went viral again this week after the Northwest Florida Daily News published a follow-up story on Whitney.

"It's still completely shocking and unexpected to me that they've gone viral," Whitney told TODAY. "I think for different people, they mean different things — maybe it's the vulnerability, or maybe it's that any woman that's had a child knows you would do anything for them, or maybe it's seeing a mom breastfeed against all odds."

Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.