Brian Williams

Note: the Thursday, Jan 2nd 7:00pm service will be live-streamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxyAvEDc7X5Rdfkfb3YbzSg

Joseph Brian Williams (Brian), 49, entered into eternal peace at Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Weston, FL on Saturday, December 28, 2024. Survivors include his wife Jennifer (Jenny) Snead Williams and son Jacob Brian Williams of Cutler Bay; his parents Catherine M and Herbert Peter Williams of Augusta, GA; sister-in-law Cathy Williams and nephews Parker and Zach of Milledgeville, GA; mother-in-law Toni Snead of Augusta, GA; brother-in-law Bart Snead of Littleton, CO; sister and brother-in-law Tonya and George Fry of Knoxville, TN: sister and brother-in-law Autumn and Mike Wright and nephews Cason and Jackson of Murfreesboro, TN; brother-in-law D.J. Snead and nephew Dylan of Augusta, GA; sister and brother-in-law Robyn and Matthew Hooker and nieces Ella and Ivy of North Augusta, SC; and aunts and uncles who were like second parents including: Vicki Shapiro; Sherrod and Boswell Lamkin; Leigh and Phil Cupp, all of Augusta, GA. Other surviving relatives include an uncle Jim Axon of The Villages, FL and multiple cousins.

Brian was preceded in death by his brother Bert Williams of Milledgville, GA; his grandparents Lil and Pierce Merry, Jr and Julius and Evelyn Axon; uncle Donald J. Shapiro; and father-in-law Bart Snead, all of Augusta, GA.

Brian was born and raised with his older brother Bert in Augusta, GA among a large and loving extended family and had a healthy childhood despite a cardiac condition diagnosed at infancy. At age 14, his heart failed and he was life-flighted to Pittsburgh for treatment. In April 1990, he became the first patient in the world to be discharged from a hospital on an artificial heart (left ventricular assist device, the Novacor VAD) with FDA approval. He was supported in part by bioengineers from the University of Pittsburgh who were with him at all times, as he awaited heart transplant. Some of his doctors and engineers would become life-long friends who continued to be part of his life and visited in the hospital up to his final days at Cleveland Clinic. Brian was also the first patient in the world to receive radiation while on a VAD, as cancer had been detected during his initial surgery to place it and was needed for treatment. On August 28, 1990 Brian received a "new heart" from a young adult male donor, who provided him an additional 34 years of life and for whom we will always be grateful. Gravely ill at many times during his cardiac surgeries, Brian fought with spirit and intellect to regain his health and he returned home and to high school at Westside High in Augusta, GA. Immediately on return to Westside, he met his wife, Jenny Snead, when she sat down in front of him in Algebra 2 class. For the next 34 years they would be best friends.

Despite his health challenges, Brian completed high school with honors and went on to attend Wofford College (alongside Jenny) in Spartanburg, SC. During college, Brian had to fight both Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins cancers, and his family, friends, and professors supported him through both. Brian was unique in that his body never tried to reject his heart transplant; he was removed from all immunosuppressive drugs (one of only a handful of heart transplant recipients worldwide) while in college, as the risk of recurrent cancer was deemed to be greater than the risk of heart rejection. Even with the health setbacks, he graduated from Wofford College just one year behind Jenny and they moved to Chapel Hill, NC where he began a Masters degree in healthcare administration at UNC-CH. Brian continued to face challenges, including multiple surgeries including hip replacements (due to chemotherapy drugs that made his bones brittle), while attending graduate school. In 2000, he asked Jenny to marry him and they wed exactly one year following his proposal on May 26, 2001. A couple of weeks prior to the wedding, he was diagnosed with cancer again and was advised to postpone the wedding. Never ones to be disheartened for long, he and Jenny were wed as planned and the original honeymoon was postponed so he could have surgery to remove a grapefruit-sized tumor from his abdomen.

Brian fought through cancer again and began working for Duke University Health System in Durham, NC following his graduation from UNC-CH. In 2004-05 he was diagnosed with an aggressive Burkett-like lymphoma and he received his own stem cells (previously harvested during 2001 cancer) with an autologous stem cell transplant at Duke University Medical Center. Again, Jenny, family, and friends provided support, alongside Brian's strong faith. As through much of his life, Brian had individuals, prayer teams, and churches throughout the USA and even internationally supporting him. And once again with a small percent chance at recovery and after months in the hospital, Brian overcame once more and continued his fight to live. He continued working at Duke University Health System in healthcare administration, and in October of 2009 he and Jenny welcomed their biggest blessing and joy into life: Jacob Brian Williams.

By 2015, Brian was in need of a kidney transplant, and he and the family moved to Miami, FL where he began working for Baptist Health South Florida in Corporate Strategy, and preparing for kidney transplant. Just as it had been at Duke, his career in healthcare was a driver for continuing a "normal life;" outside of temporary leaves, Brian remained fully employed his adult career, working right up through the day that he was admitted to Cleveland Clinic Hospital in November. He enjoyed his work, his colleagues, and combining his patient perspective with the administrative side of healthcare system operation. During his 9 years living in Miami, Brian valiantly faced multiple hospitalizations, with challenges to his heart, lungs, and kidneys. He went into congestive heart failure in 2018 and began on hemodialysis (which he and Jenny would run themselves at home for the next 6 years), with his heart re-bounding in the coming months. During Covid, he overcame multiple life-threatening pneumonias and intubation with mechanical ventilation. Brian continued his fight; slowly though, a condition called dysautonomia affected his nervous system and particularly blood vessels and pressure to the point his blood pressure became too low to survive.

Brian was admitted to Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Weston, FL on November 20th and spent the next several weeks giving his all to try to stay alive. Always with his faith strong and his humor intact, family members and friends again supported him through these weeks, alongside creative and caring medical teams. He enjoyed Christmas Day with Jacob and Jenny, opening stockings, listening to Christmas music, playing games, and enjoying the soft glow of the Christmas tree Jacob had delivered to his room. To the end, Brian was a family man, a faithful child of God, a loving son, an adoring husband, and an incredible father. His spirit and fight to live was unmatched. He will forever be loved and missed.

The family will receive friends from 4:30 to 6:30PM Thursday, January 2nd at Kendall United Methodist Church (7600 SW 104th St, Miami, 33156). Directly following the visitation, a celebration of life service will be conducted by Pastor Ruben Velasco at 7:00PM in the church. The celebration of life service will be live-streamed at the link above for those who are not able to attend in person. Burial of cremains will take place in the spring at Westover Memorial Park in Augusta, GA.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Wofford College Reverend Talmage and Beverly Skinner Endowed Scholarship Fund (wofford.edu) or to Kendall United Methodist Church in Miami (kendallchurch.org).