Genoa Williams
Donation protected
This is Genoa Williams, 26 years old. He was diagnosed with lupus in 2009 at the young age of 17 when we thought he just had the flu. He had been sick for about 2 weeks with flu like symptoms then went to the emergency room where they found out the underlying cause was systemic lupus. Shortly after being diagnosed with lupus, he met his soul mate, the love of his life, Shannon. They have been together since 2009, married in April of 2016 and had a beautiful baby girl in September of 2016. Those girls were Noah’s life. He was over the moon when they found out they were pregnant because they both had been told they wouldn’t be able to have babies. Victoria Jentell Williams is a miracle in life form.
In 2012 he started chemotherapy in attempt to battle the symptoms of the lupus which in turn caused a lot of side effects including hair loss, weight loss, and appetite loss and due to the suppression of his immune system related to chemo, he developed c-diff which is an infection in the bowels that causes persistent diarrhea and can be fatal. He pulled through that despite all the odds that were stacked against him and still had his happiness without feeling defeated. After the chemotherapy was complete, they placed him on a medication called CellCept which continued to suppress his immune system in hopes of controlling the systemic lupus flares. Since initial diagnosis back in 2009, Noah was unable to keep a job for long. He would have a lupus flare up, end up in the hospital which caused him to miss work which caused him to lose his job. This never stopped him from getting another job and trying again. He worked very hard to provide for his growing little family despite feeling sick and weak every single day.
In 2016 he had been diagnosed with pneumonia 16 times and was hospitalized 15 out of 16 times for that due to being high risk and already having a compromised immune system. The doctors then diagnosed him with chronic pneumonia and placed him on long term steroids to increase lung function. In August of 2017, he was in the hospital again for a lupus flare up that got out of control with home medications and the doctors referred him to a specialist in Omaha. The specialist did a bunch of tests and determined he had another form of lupus called discoid lupus erythematosus which attacks the skin. So at this point, lupus was internal and external. In December of 2017 he was in the hospital again for extreme swelling, dehydration and consistent diarrhea. After a long list of testing, the doctors determined he had kidney disease and informed him that he would only have 10 years to live and would be on dialysis within the next 5 years. They also found that he had anal fissures which were causing the diarrhea. After the diagnosis of kidney disease, he continued to battle the swelling, internally and externally and was losing hope. His mental health was deteriorating as fast as his physical health.
On February 5th, Noah had a great day after too many bad ones. He was happy and had energy and actually got out of the house for about 5 hours. He spent the day with his brother in law, buying stuff for his car, preparing for Valentine’s day with his wife. Monday afternoon, he had an extremely painful spot in his leg and just wanted to take a bath. He was unable to get out of the tub on his own due to the pain and asked Shannon to call 911. They thought he had a blood clot in his leg. Turns out that he had an infection that went undetected and he had gone septic, meaning the infection entered his blood stream. Due to being septic, his organs began to fail. He lost blood flow to his legs which caused them to turn black and developed large blisters. He was fighting so hard to fight the infection that the doctors decided to put him on a ventilator to allow his energy to go into fighting the infection. His blood pressure was dropping so they had him on numerous medications to keep it up. His kidneys had stopped functioning all together and he was placed on a dialysis machine. His core body temperature was dropping so they placed him under a space heater type of blanket. One was not enough to increase his temp so they added another one. Noah had been telling close family and friends for a while that he was tired. He was tired of the hospital, tired of feeling sick all the time. His daughter Victoria is the reason for his continuing will to fight, she was his world.
On February 9th, his wife made the hardest decision of her life. She decided to help her husband and end his pain. All of his medications were stopped at 1210pm and he passed away at 1249pm surrounded by his closest loved ones.
His wife, Shannon had been his biggest support beam in his time of need. Throughout the consistent diarrhea, he would have accidents that he wasn’t able to get to the bathroom in time and didn’t have the strength to clean himself up. That’s where Shannon stepped in. She was his caretaker when he was no longer able to physically care for himself. She made sure their daughter, Victoria, and Noah were cared for in all aspects of life. She was the sole provider financially as Noah was no longer able to work starting in 2017. He wasn’t strong enough for common household chores or even to take care of his own daughter. He struggled with his mental health due to all these factors and knowing that his daughter needed him but he wasn’t able to consistently care of her like he wanted to. While taking care of her sick husband and beautiful daughter, Shannon was also working full time and going to college part time for criminal justice. The amount of strength Shannon has shown throughout the years at her young age of 21 has been astounding! She deserves to be able to do the right thing by her husband without the financial hardships that go along with death.
We, as family, have put together this go fund me account in hopes that we can help Shannon in the worst time of her life, to cremate her husband, her best friend, her soul mate. Anything is helpful, even if it is a small amount, it adds up. Thank you for taking the time to read our story
In 2012 he started chemotherapy in attempt to battle the symptoms of the lupus which in turn caused a lot of side effects including hair loss, weight loss, and appetite loss and due to the suppression of his immune system related to chemo, he developed c-diff which is an infection in the bowels that causes persistent diarrhea and can be fatal. He pulled through that despite all the odds that were stacked against him and still had his happiness without feeling defeated. After the chemotherapy was complete, they placed him on a medication called CellCept which continued to suppress his immune system in hopes of controlling the systemic lupus flares. Since initial diagnosis back in 2009, Noah was unable to keep a job for long. He would have a lupus flare up, end up in the hospital which caused him to miss work which caused him to lose his job. This never stopped him from getting another job and trying again. He worked very hard to provide for his growing little family despite feeling sick and weak every single day.
In 2016 he had been diagnosed with pneumonia 16 times and was hospitalized 15 out of 16 times for that due to being high risk and already having a compromised immune system. The doctors then diagnosed him with chronic pneumonia and placed him on long term steroids to increase lung function. In August of 2017, he was in the hospital again for a lupus flare up that got out of control with home medications and the doctors referred him to a specialist in Omaha. The specialist did a bunch of tests and determined he had another form of lupus called discoid lupus erythematosus which attacks the skin. So at this point, lupus was internal and external. In December of 2017 he was in the hospital again for extreme swelling, dehydration and consistent diarrhea. After a long list of testing, the doctors determined he had kidney disease and informed him that he would only have 10 years to live and would be on dialysis within the next 5 years. They also found that he had anal fissures which were causing the diarrhea. After the diagnosis of kidney disease, he continued to battle the swelling, internally and externally and was losing hope. His mental health was deteriorating as fast as his physical health.
On February 5th, Noah had a great day after too many bad ones. He was happy and had energy and actually got out of the house for about 5 hours. He spent the day with his brother in law, buying stuff for his car, preparing for Valentine’s day with his wife. Monday afternoon, he had an extremely painful spot in his leg and just wanted to take a bath. He was unable to get out of the tub on his own due to the pain and asked Shannon to call 911. They thought he had a blood clot in his leg. Turns out that he had an infection that went undetected and he had gone septic, meaning the infection entered his blood stream. Due to being septic, his organs began to fail. He lost blood flow to his legs which caused them to turn black and developed large blisters. He was fighting so hard to fight the infection that the doctors decided to put him on a ventilator to allow his energy to go into fighting the infection. His blood pressure was dropping so they had him on numerous medications to keep it up. His kidneys had stopped functioning all together and he was placed on a dialysis machine. His core body temperature was dropping so they placed him under a space heater type of blanket. One was not enough to increase his temp so they added another one. Noah had been telling close family and friends for a while that he was tired. He was tired of the hospital, tired of feeling sick all the time. His daughter Victoria is the reason for his continuing will to fight, she was his world.
On February 9th, his wife made the hardest decision of her life. She decided to help her husband and end his pain. All of his medications were stopped at 1210pm and he passed away at 1249pm surrounded by his closest loved ones.
His wife, Shannon had been his biggest support beam in his time of need. Throughout the consistent diarrhea, he would have accidents that he wasn’t able to get to the bathroom in time and didn’t have the strength to clean himself up. That’s where Shannon stepped in. She was his caretaker when he was no longer able to physically care for himself. She made sure their daughter, Victoria, and Noah were cared for in all aspects of life. She was the sole provider financially as Noah was no longer able to work starting in 2017. He wasn’t strong enough for common household chores or even to take care of his own daughter. He struggled with his mental health due to all these factors and knowing that his daughter needed him but he wasn’t able to consistently care of her like he wanted to. While taking care of her sick husband and beautiful daughter, Shannon was also working full time and going to college part time for criminal justice. The amount of strength Shannon has shown throughout the years at her young age of 21 has been astounding! She deserves to be able to do the right thing by her husband without the financial hardships that go along with death.
We, as family, have put together this go fund me account in hopes that we can help Shannon in the worst time of her life, to cremate her husband, her best friend, her soul mate. Anything is helpful, even if it is a small amount, it adds up. Thank you for taking the time to read our story
Organizer
Kirstin Vanderlinden
Organizer
Lincoln, NE
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