Another football star is opening up about the heartbreaking loss of a child to stillbirth. San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams and his wife, Sondra, were expecting twin boys when one died earlier in pregnancy. Tragically, Sondra has announced that the remaining twin recently died at 35 weeks. The couple also has three daughters.
In a video shared to Instagram, Sondra showed her pregnancy journey with their son, Trenton Jr., until he was stillborn at 35 weeks. He had been diagnosed prenatally with Trisomy 13, or Patau Syndrome, which often leads to death before the age of one. However, medical advances have allowed children with Trisomy 13 to survive for significantly longer, particularly when they receive the treatment they need.
While the diagnosis details of the Williamses’ baby boy are not known, such as if if there were other defects or abnormalities leading to his stillbirth, Sondra made it clear that his death wasn’t entirely unexpected. “It’s been extremely hard trying to process the saddest Hello and Goodbye that I’ve ever had to endure,” she wrote. “Last Sunday night on 11/24/24; I welcomed your lifeless 4lb 8oz 18.5 in long little body at 11:38pm. At only 35 weeks, your impactful and quick arrival didn’t even give mommy time to get an epidural.”
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She continued, “As much as I tried to prepare myself for our meeting, I wasn’t prepared nor would I ever be. After losing your twin early in the pregnancy, I prayed and hoped that your diagnosis of Trisomy 13 wasn’t true and wouldn’t be the fate of my long awaited beautiful Son-shine. My firstborn and only son, I’ve always wanted you, but God wanted and needed you more.”
Researchers from the National Center for Child Health and Development in Tokyo noted of children diagnosed with Trisomy 13, “The decision not to implement aggressive treatment due to poor prognosis has changed in recent years because of the increased emphasis placed on parental decision-making with the ‘best interest of the child standard’ in mind, and in conjunction with the shared decision-making model and patient-centered care advocated in the USA.” They added:
In the present study, the median survival time of patients with trisomy 13 who underwent surgery almost doubled from 1996–2008 (91 days) to 2009–2021 (179 days). Previous studies have reported that palliative and corrective surgical interventions can be safely performed in patients with trisomy 13 and contribute to prolonged survival.
It has become a typical claim in the media that women “need” access to abortions in cases like this, where the baby is not expected to survive the pregnancy. Yet Trent and Sondra Williams are showing that it can be healing to have the opportunity to meet and mourn a baby in situations like these.
“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,” wrote Sondra. “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.”
She added, “Thank God for allowing us to bond for 35 weeks and for me to birth you so I could hold you in my arms. I’m at peace knowing you will never have to suffer. Although I will never hear your soft coos and cries or see those beautiful little eyes staring up at me, I am grateful to God for the time I shared with you.”
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