By India McCarty
TODAY anchor Sheinelle Jones opened up about the devastating recent death of her husband, Uche Ojeh.
“It’s a beautiful nightmare,” she said during an episode of TODAY.
Ojeh passed away in May after battling brain cancer. He was 45 years old. He and Jones had been together since their days as students at Northwestern University, where they used to look out the window at the school’s clock tower. Almost 30 years later, the couple were looking out a hospital window at the Manhattan skyline.
“I remember staring out the window, and I’m like, oh, my God, it’s like this crazy, full-circle moment,” Jones recalled. “Here we are again, not talking, and it feels like a beautiful nightmare.”
Related: ‘Prayers’: TODAY Host Sheinelle Jones’ Husband Dies from Brain Cancer
She continued, “It felt scary. It felt divine. It felt bigger than us. But at the end of the day, when we shut the door and it was just us, that was always when we felt like we were at our best. And my 19-year-old self did it, and then my 47-year-old self was doing it again. We would just hold hands, and the nurses would come in, and they would call us the lovebirds. And we would just look at each other, say ‘I love you,’ and hold hands. But that’s what I mean by beautiful nightmare.”
Jones said she and Ojeh leaned on their faith during his treatment, sharing that “his faith is what kept him going.”
“I watched him in his toughest moments. His faith is what gave him peace,” she continued. “And so I think, ‘OK, if Uche can have faith when his life is on the line, surely I can. And surely we all can.’”
The couple shared three children, and the TODAY host shared that helping them through their grieving process has also helped her do the same.
“Grief is like a wave, and what I’ve told my kids, it’s almost like rain can’t last forever,” Jones explained. “So when the rain comes, in some ways I’ve just learned to look up at the rain and let it be a cleansing rain and let it clear the air. And so I don’t run away from crying anymore. When it comes to grief, I see it as, ‘Here comes my cleansing rain.’ And it’s okay. I don’t fear it anymore. So when it comes now, I’m like, ‘Okay, you can come. We can sit for a little bit.’”
Please keep Jones and her children in your prayers as they continue to navigate this difficult time.
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