These days with the cost of living rising every other day, it can get incredibly hard to provide for a family. Some parents end up taking extra jobs just to make ends meet.
This young mother was stretching herself thin by picking up an extra job to make some money to provide for her two young children. Sadly, she ended up losing her life while doing that extra job and now her children are left without their mother.
Sunshine Nicole Williams lived in Lexington, North Carolina with her husband Drake Williams and their two children. The couple had a seemingly picture-perfect life, having been together since middle school.
Her mother Teresa Lane describes Sunshine exactly as her name sounds; she had a lovely and bubbly personality and had a lot of friends that cherished her.
Sunshine married the man she loved since she was in middle school and they welcomed their beautiful daughters Kaylee and Malakia together.
Her mother thinks of her as she was, saying, “She was an amazing mom, friend, mother, and daughter, she loved everybody. She was sunshine.”
Sunshine who was due to turn 22 years old on the 23rd of September, was a full-time mom. But she wanted to help with the expenses that kept piling up for their little family and decided to take up an extra job that she could do during the weekends. She started working as a food delivery person and would go with her differently-abled brother to make deliveries.
The brother and sister duo took off in a 2006 Toyota Scion on Saturday, September 17, 2022. Sunshine was driving and the duo expected it to be another normal day of delivering food.
However little did they know, tragedy was waiting for them just around the corner. A 2002 Chevrolet Silverado driving north on US 29 ran off the road and then overcorrected. Doing so, it collided with Sunshine’s car which was traveling south at the time.
The truck driver was identified as 26-year-old Joshua Anderson and questioned about how the car crash happened. While at first Anderson claimed that he had seen a tire tread or a plastic bag on the road that he was trying to avoid, he later confessed that he might have diverted his attention to his phone for a second but couldn’t remember what had actually happened.
The deadly car crash ended up claiming 21-year-old Sunshine’s life immediately. Her brother John, who was in the passenger seat survived miraculously without many injuries.
John and the truck driver Anderson were both taken to the hospital and their injuries were treated. When Sunshine’s family was informed of the car crash and her death, her family was in denial. Her mother recalls, “I didn’t think it was real, I just thought not my baby.”
The family was in sheer disbelief at the news. Sunshine was still breastfeeding one of her daughters and has left both of them behind as well as her devastated husband.
Her mother said, “I will never get to hold my baby girl again and tell her how much I love her she was the best person to everyone and the most amazing mom and wife I can’t even breathe right now I’m totally broken (sic).”
The family set up a GoFundMe page to help them with funeral expenses. They set a goal of $10,000 of which over $8,000 have already been raised and donations continue to pour in.
Friends and family are utterly devastated at the loss of Sunshine. Hailey Mize wrote a tribute to her late friend on Facebook, she wrote, “Sweet Sunshine Nichole Williams you were taken way too soon. I’ve seen you become such a beautiful mother and wife. Your friendship was truly a blessing. Heaven gained an angel.”
While others still wished her early for her birthday. Another well-wisher Candra Lee said, “Happy almost birthday sweet angel. You were an incredible daughter, sister, friend, wife, and mother. My heart is broken for your family especially those babies… we love you forever.”
The family also set up another GoFundMe page to help raise money for the young widower who is now responsible for taking care of both his daughters alone. Currently, only $1,300 have been raised of the $20,000 goal that has been set.
The description of the GoFundMe appeal said, “A group of Sunshine’s life long friends are starting this fundraiser in order to provide financial aid to her new widower as he learns to care for these two small children while simultaneously grieving the loss of his wife.”
A memorial has been planned for Sunshine by her family on September 22, 2022. Her husband posted on Facebook asking people to wear respectful but bright clothing, saying, “I ask that clothing be respectable and formal, dark or bright colors. I know she wouldn’t want a room full of darkness when she’s literally the embodiment of light. Thank you all for everything.”
It is so heartbreaking to know this family will have to go on without such a vital person in their lives. We are sending them love and strength to get through this.