Sheinelle Jones shared that she was overcome with emotion as she celebrated her first birthday since her husband, Uche Ojeh, passed away last year.
Taking to Instagram, Jones shared with her followers.
“Today is my 48th birthday, and to be honest—I can’t stop crying,” Jones wrote. “Thankful tears, painful tears because it’s my first without Uche, and tears full of gratitude reflecting on the last 7 days. I have never felt so much love in my life.”
Jones shared a photo carousel of packed crowds at various stops on her Through Mom’s Eyes book tour.
“Thank you for the prayers and support over the last year,” she continued. “I don’t have the words to express how it feels to have SOLD OUT crowds in every city … and what it feels like to take these group photos with your smiling faces.”
Jones also paid tribute to her late husband.“Uche loved The Beatles; as I mark the beginning of ’48,’” she wrote, “I do… feel the sun. Thank you so so much.”
In May 2025, Ojeh passed away in May 2025 at the age of 45 after a courageous battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
“I don’t even think I understood fully what it would feel like to not have him,” Jones said. She noted that “not being able to text him when she boards a plane, that hit her the hardest.”
“It’s the life after where you really feel the loss,” she explained.
She also spoke about the effect of the loss on her children. Jones and Ojeh shared three children: son Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche Jr, both 13.
“My kids lost their dad at 13 and 16,” Jones said. “But I try to tell them they got more in those years than some people get in a lifetime.”
People see me on TV, and they think ‘Oh, she’s better.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, no no. I’m not better.’ Every day, it’s like swimming through mud,” says Jones. “I’ve had to really do the work. Empathy is my superpower now, and I recognize that I hold two things: I hold my grief, and I also hold this joy.
Jones continued, “I said it months ago, and I’ll say it now: I am fighting for my joy.”