Memorial fund for Salome Williams

I grew up with Tabitha and Salome in a small mountain community in California. They are those people that are always positive, remained strong in their faith even in trying times, and just exuberated kindness. They were high school sweethearts and just genuinely good people.

Tabitha endured some extreme trauma in her childhood and Salome was always her rock - they got married in 2012 and he joined the US Army to carry on the family tradition. When Tabitha was pregnant with their second child, she suffered a brain aneurysm and by some miracle survived and made a complete recovery safely delivering their second son that summer. Fast forward 4 years- Tabitha and Salome are expecting their 3rd child, a girl this time. A beautiful baby girl, named Amari.

However, their lives once again take a scary turn when they learn Amari has a heart defect that will require multiple surgeries once she is born. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. Amari was born in December of 2018 and at just 6 days old she underwent her first open heart surgery. She proved to everyone just how strong she was and pulled through all the complications like a champ. At 3 months old, Amari made her way home. She was growing and getting stronger every single day. On July 5th, 2019, at almost 7 months old, sweet beautiful Amari passed away in her mama’s arms after a sudden complication from her heart condition.

Tabitha, Salome, and their 2 young boys started rebuilding their lives after the loss of their precious baby girl. In December, Salome started having some medical troubles and it was determined he had pericarditis which means, a swelling and irritation of the thin sac like membrane surrounding the heart (pericardium). They were able to remove a liter of fluid from the sac and sent it off for testing.

In January, they announced the expectation of their rainbow baby. Salome and Tabitha are pregnant with their 4th baby.

On February 2, 2020 Salome suffered a stroke. He was being monitored overnight and that morning he coded… CPR was performed, and Salome was holding on by a thread. They did some testing and found a mass inside his pericardium. While waiting for results of imaging on the mass Salome began having organ failure… As the hospital worked to run tests and bring our friend back, he slipped into a coma. On February 6th, Salome was pronounced brain dead. February 8th, he went to be with his daughter Amari.

A seemingly healthy 29-year-old father, husband, son, brother… gone in just a few short days. Anything you can do to help this family is greatly appreciated. They’ve endured more than anyone should in their entire life in just a year.

Please continue to pray for Tabitha, the boys, and all of Salome's family and friends. Sharing and donating helps to bring Tabitha and her boys home to California from their duty station in Texas. 

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This GoFundMe has officially turned into a memorial fund for Salome. All funds will be withdrawn directly by Tabitha and used for expenses she will incur as she navigates life without her best friend, her husband, the family's provider.

Anything you can donate helps tremendously -- and as always, please send them your love, prayers, and support. Share share share! 



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Sunday, 2/2/20 Tabitha had to take Salome to the ER:

Yesterday I took Salome Williams to the ER due to some vision changes and found out that he had a stroke. Fortunately we got to the hospital in time to get a CT scan which showed a blockage in his brain (blood clot). He was able to receive a medicine called TPA that helps dissolve clots. It started to work immediately and he regained most of the vision he had lost.
When using TPA the patient has to be monitored overnight so he had to stay and I went home with the boys. I got a call that at midnight Salome aspirated on some throw up and became unintelligible so they intubated him and took him to CT to make sure he wasn't having another stroke. At 3 am I got a call updating me that the scan came back clear and there was no blood but they were going to keep him intubated for precaution.
At 5:50am I received another phone call saying that he had coded and they started CPR and I needed to get there asap. I grabbed the boys and drove over making it at 6:30am. When I got to his room they were putting him on the ecmo machine. Some of y'all may remember that Amari had to also be put on emergency ecmo.
They did an echo and found a large mass inside of his pericardium. They are doing multiple imaging to get a better look at the mass to see if it's a blood clot or if it's a tumor.
Still waiting on them to be read by tomorrow if doctors.
He is still struggling and we are doing everything in our power to help him survive.
I won't have answers until later tonight. Daniel and Lydia are on their way here as I type this.

Please pray as hard as you can that Salome pulls through with minimal complications. I don't want to lose him. Please please pray for him.

Thank you. ❤️