Sheinelle Jones shared a message to fans and supporters Friday just after news broke that her husband of 17 years had passed away from brain cancer at age 45.
In an Instagram post with video of her TODAY co-hosts' tribute to Uche Ojeh, Jones wrote a simple "thank you."
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WATCH HERE"Thank you, for all of your love and support," her post read.
Jones' and Ojeh's partnership began at Northwestern University in Illinois, where they met as Jones was a freshman, giving then-17-year-old Ojeh a tour on campus. The pair dated for eight years before Ojeh proposed -- also on Northwestern's campus.
They were married in 2007 and went on to have three children: Kayin, Uche and Clara.
“With profound sadness, we share this morning that Uche Ojeh, the husband of our friend and TODAY co-host Sheinelle Jones, has passed away after a courageous battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma,” Savannah Guthrie said on TODAY May 23.
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“There are no words for the pain we feel for Sheinelle and their three young children. Uche was an incredible person. We all loved him."
Jones, who co-hosts the third hour of TODAY, had previously been absent from the show, saying in January she was dealing with a "family health matter."
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SIGN UP "I sincerely appreciate all of you who have reached out while I've been absent from the show," Jones wrote in her message at the time. "I want to share with you that I'm taking time to deal with a family health matter. It's not lost on me how lucky I am to have not only the support of my Today Show family, but to also have all of you. Your kindness means so much to me. I'll see you soon."
Her coworkers also addressed the news, with Guthrie saying on air "we know so many of you have been asking about Sheinelle, and missing her, and we miss her, too."
“Sheinelle, we all love you, and we are so looking forward to having you back,” Craig Melvin said.
Jones' coworkers were emotional in their tribute to Ojeh Friday.
"We talk a lot about how this place is like a family and this morning we have some heartbreaking news about someone who is very dear to us," Melvin said.
Ojeh was remembered for his love of his family, friends and deep sense of faith.
“One thing he always talked about — he talked about those kids,” Craig Melvin said on TODAY. “He loved those kids more than anything else in this world, and was just so proud. He was that dad that was on the sideline at every soccer game. He was at all the concerts, the recitals. He was that guy, and they had such a beautiful love story.”
What is glioblastoma?
According to the Mayo Clinic, glioblastoma is "a type of cancer that starts as a growth of cells in the brain or spinal cord. It grows quickly and can invade and destroy healthy tissue."
The cancer can be seen at any age, but is more common in older adults, the clinic said.
While there is currently no cure for glioblastoma, treatments can slow the cancer's growth or reduce certain symptoms.
"The cause of most glioblastomas isn't known," Mayo Clinic reported. "Glioblastoma happens when cells in the brain or spinal cord develop changes in their DNA. Healthcare professionals sometimes call these changes mutations or variations. A cell's DNA holds the instructions that tell a cell what to do. In healthy cells, the DNA gives instructions to grow and multiply at a set rate. The instructions tell the cells to die at a set time. In cancer cells, the DNA changes give different instructions. The changes tell the cancer cells to make many more cells quickly. Cancer cells can keep living when healthy cells would die. This causes too many cells."
The cancer cells go on to form a tumor that can grow and press on nerves or part of the brain or spinal cord. The tumor can also grow to invade and destroy health body tissue.
According to the American Brain Tumor Association, glioblastomas are difficult to treat.
"They are fast-growing and invade nearby brain tissue, making 100% removal nearly impossible," the association's website reads, adding that "the blood-brain barrier prevents certain treatments from being able to reach the tumor and be effective."
The tumors can also "evolve over time, which makes them difficult to treat."
"Because of this, the treatment plan for glioblastoma may combine several approaches, including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, clinical trials, Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), and targeted therapies," the association reported.
What are the symptoms?
The ABTA reports symptoms often develop rapidly "due to mass effect from the tumor itself or from the fluid surrounding the tumor that causes further brain swelling.
Common symptoms include:
- Seizures
- Severe headaches
- Memory and language problems
- Changes in personality and behavior
- Muscle weakness or paralysis
- Loss of sensation or numbness and tingling
- Fatigue
- Issues with coordination
- Speech, hearing, and vision problems
