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Influencer Estee Williams is paying tribute to her 8-month-old daughter, Estelle, after her death.
“Until we meet again, my sweet Estelle,” Williams wrote via her Instagram Story on Saturday, May 30, alongside a photo of her holding her daughter. She added an angel wings emoji to the image.
Williams confirmed to People on Sunday, May 31, that Estelle died from multiple organ failure and had spent several months hooked up to various hospital machines.
Williams gave birth to Estelle in 2025. The baby was born with the congenital heart defect known as ventricular septal defect.
“After a two-day long labor and complete exhaustion, my midwife and I agreed that transferring to the hospital was the best decision. Estelle was born another 24 hours later — healthy and absolutely beautiful. It wasn’t until a day and a half later that she failed two oxygen saturation screenings and a heart murmur was detected, at which point she was admitted to the NICU for further evaluation,” Williams wrote via Instagram in 2025.
She continued, “The cardiologist performed an echocardiogram, and that’s when we learned she had two VSDs — one large and one moderate. We were told the larger hole measured 11 mm and that, sometime during her infancy, she would likely begin to show symptoms and need open-heart surgery to repair the VSDs with patches. Four days later, we were able to go home and begin our baby girl’s heart journey.”
Williams shared that Estelle’s surgery was scheduled in November 2025, which was expected to be a “relatively short hospital stay” meaning about three to six days after surgery.
“Our baby girl’s surgery was a success! The surgeon shared that hers was the largest VSD he had ever seen or repaired — measuring 30 mm and requiring a 3cm patch. A Healthy baby’s heart her age/weight would typically be about the size of a walnut, but because of the immense work her heart was doing to keep her alive, hers had grown to the size of an orange. It truly felt miraculous that we were able to bring our baby home from the NICU and that she was able to grow, even if only a little, before her surgery,” Williams wrote at the time.
Williams explained that because the “patch was so extensive and unable to contract like a normal septum,” Estelle’s “postoperative court became entirely unanticipated and was marked by significant complications.” Within two weeks, Estelle had “undergone her second heart surgery due to her complete heart block.”
After Estelle went into cardiac arrest in December 2025, she was placed on life support. Williams was told that her daughter could not leave the hospital until she had a heart transplant.
In April, Williams shared that Estelle was considered ineligible because of various health complications, including sepsis and issues with blood clotting. After the situation improved, Williams shared that Estelle was granted eligibility again. Earlier this month, Williams explained that Estelle had been removed from the transplant list for a second time.
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