Android HELP. HTC One X in "safe mode" and NEED the Pics-Please L@@K

This thread is requesting any assistance on behalf of a friend who is a new Mom & ALL of her infants pictures are now missing from her Android. I appreciate advice on this one, and happy to compensate anyone for taking a few minutes to advise me. I'm unfamiliar with HTC phones so thought I would post.
She fell asleep last night playing a game, today the phone is in "safe mode" and shows no pictures stored.
Phone is not rooted, completely stock. What is my best option. Thank you

Not sure if you took your time to search, but here's some help from Googling around:

"Turn off your phone. Then hold the power button. The phione should come on and show the HTC "Quietly Brilliant" screen, continue holding the power button until the screen goes black and the phone turns off again. Then tap the power button again to turn the phone on in normal mode. It took a bit of trial and error but this is what I found solved my problem after the recent updates."

I did actually, and still trying to get that to take, but reaching out in the meantime. Appreciative of the response.