Sondra Williams, the wife of San Francisco 49ers tackle Trent Williams, shared a heartbreaking update on social media: their son, Trenton, was stillborn at 35 weeks on November 24. Sondra wrote on Instagram that it had been “extremely hard trying to process the saddest Hello and Goodbye.” She also said she had lost Trenton’s twin earlier in the pregnancy.
"My heart is heavy. Being home without you in my arms has been quite an adjustment. Knowing I will never be able to watch you grow older alongside your sisters has my eyes filled with tears," Sondra wrote. “I can’t even begin to describe how I felt leaving the hospital without you. Nor how it feels being home celebrating Thanksgiving without my baby in my arms. My heart is broken and my arms are empty. But I know you’ll always be near watching over me and your sisters. And for that, my heart smiles with gratitude.”
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In her post Sondra also shared that Trenton had trisomy 13, also called Patau syndrome. The National Library of Medicine explains that trisomy 13 is a chromosomal condition leading to serious intellectual and physical challenges. It can cause heart defects, brain or spinal cord issues, small or underdeveloped eyes, additional fingers or toes, and muscle weakness, among other complications. Infants with trisomy 13 often face numerous life-threatening health issues and many do not survive past their first weeks. Only about 5-10 percent of children with this condition live beyond their first year, according to the National Library of Medicine.
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Monday that Williams – who has missed recent games with an ankle injury – has spent time grieving with his family. “It was something that happened that last week and he was there at the hospital with her and got to meet him and say bye,” Shanahan said. “And then he had to cremate him on Friday, so he’s been dealing with that and he’s working through it. But we’re all just trying to be here for him through it all.”
Shanahan said that Williams wants to return to the field when he returns to full fitness and said that the 49ers are offering all the support they can to Williams and his family. “When you’ve got to deal with tragedies like this, it’s hard as a coach, it’s hard as a friend, it’s hard as a family member, it’s hard for everybody,” he said. “But we spend a lot of time with each other and that’s what’s cool about a football team. Whatever you go through, the good or the bad, we go through it together. And I do like for those guys because I do like that they have this, they have a group of guys they can go to, a group of guys that could see them every day. And you can’t ever escape that full grief and stuff. But I do think it’s nice for those guys to have another avenue to get out on the football field, to get around teammates and things like that.”
Williams is the second 49ers player this season to mourn the loss of a child, following cornerback Charvarius Ward, who shared the passing of his one-year-old daughter Amani Joy in an emotional social media post in October.
