What happened to Trent Williams' son? 49ers LT's wife announces tragic death of newborn
On Monday, the San Francisco 49ers tackle Trent Williams' wife Sondra revealed a major tragedy - that their son Trent Jr. had died during birth two weeks ago. His twin sister had died during pregnancy.
In an Instagram post, Sondra explained that Trent Jr. had been diagnosed with Trisomy 13 aka Patau syndrome. It's a condition when a baby is found to have three copies of Chromosome 13 in each cell instead of the usual two.
It's a life-threatening disorder that causes severe intellectual disability and multiple physical abnormalities and often results in miscarriage or the baby's death before it turns one:
"As much as I tried to prepare myself for our meeting, I wasn’t prepared nor would I ever be," Sondra wrote on Instagram. "After losing your twin early (in the pregnancy), I prayed and hoped that your diagnosis wasn’t true and wouldn’t be the fate of my long awaited beautiful Son-shine.
"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."
Below are more images of Trent Jr. (via Sondra's Instagram Stories):
Williams has three daughters with Sondra: Micah, 15; MaKayla, 11, and Madison, 2.
Coach Kyle Shanahan speaks about Trent Williams', Charvarius Ward's tragedies
Kyle Shanahan has commented on handling Trent Williams' tragedy. After revealing that the multiple-time All-Pro and Pro Bowler had to cremate his dead son, Shanahan said during a conference call on Monday.
"It's hard as a coach. It's hard as a friend, it's hard as a family member. It's hard for everybody. But we spend a lot of time with each other. That's what's cool about a football team. Whatever you go through, the good or the bad, we go through it together.
"You can never escape that full grief, 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."
Shanahan also praised cornerback Charvarius Ward for returning to play at the Buffalo Bills on Sunday - a month after the death of his daughter Amani Joy, who had Down syndrome, calling it "a huge step".
The Bills' fanbase will express their support for Ward's charity, which focuses on Down syndrome patients.