Hi @kmarcink welcome to the /e/ forum. I am sorry to hear this story.
As a starting point, may I ask if you are sufficiently familiar with the command line to contemplate extracting the photos by adb pull?
The tools to use would be Android Bridge and Platform Tools. This link has some quite readable information. https://adbshell.com/.
Do not get involved with the Download tab on this page, but quite a useful guide to getting platform-tools is given in the Commands tab under How do I find ADB located
The command line tools you would be able to use are listed in the left hand menu under File Manager. Please let me know if this would be a good starting point for you.
Alternatively, reflashing the recovery may be worth trying. When you mentioned Odin, is reflashing the recovery what you had in mind? As you mention Odin, this might be a useful tutorial. [HOWTO] Install /e/ on a Samsung smartphone with Windows easily. Do ask again but a recovery.img, that is TWRP, can be found - via https://doc.e.foundation/devices/hero2lte/install - here:
Downloads for the hero2lte
- Of course the normal warning would be “Back up your data” before experimenting with Odin! This is the reason that I mentioned
adb pullfirst as I think this would be a sound backup method.