When asked about her son, Laura described Zach as a charismatic extrovert who loved sports and music.

"He liked to seek out the person who was being left out and invite them in," she said of her late son. "So he was really good at meeting people where they were."

Zach battled cancer for three years before his diagnosis became terminal, and Laura said she had asked her son to write letters to his friends and family to say goodbye. 

"He wanted to do that, and he tried, but the words, he told me, just weren't coming out the way he wanted them to," she said. So instead, Zach wrote "Clouds." Laura said she found the lyrics to the song written on a piece of notebook paper before he shared the song with her, but when he showed her the first recording on his phone, she said she knew that was how he would say his goodbyes.

"I just sobbed because it was such a powerful way to say what was really in his heart," she said. "It's upbeat but it's heartbreaking at the same time ... I could feel what he was trying to say, and it was beautiful."

She said they'd never intended for "Clouds" to reach as far as it did, but it's since branched into a series of ways for Zach's family to honor him. Director Justin Baldoni approached the family about a potential film documenting the last year of Zach's life shortly after his death.

But despite the project being years in the making, she admitted she hadn't realized just how well the film would capture exactly who Zach was.

"I think Fin Argus does an amazing job of capturing the essence of Zach — I mean for one thing, he looks so much like him, he's built like Zach, he moves like Zach," she said. 

But Zach's essence is in more than just the actor who portrayed him. Laura said she sent some of Zach's personal belongings to be used on the set, including his clothing, crutches, bedding, and other memorabilia from his high school bedroom.

"The first time I saw Fin dressed as Zach was just — it was gut wrenching, just a whole slew of just powerful emotions," she said. "It was the first time I actually broke down and cried in the arms of a stranger ... it was like having Zach back in the room again, and I forgot how much I missed that."