Today’s Sheinelle Jones Gets Emotional Surprising Hospice Workers Who Cared for Late Husband with Trip to Cabo

Sheinelle Jones took a moment to highlight the incredible work of the women who helped care for her late husband, Uche Ojeh, in his final days. 

Ojeh died in May 2025 at the age of 45 from glioblastoma brain cancer. Jones took an extended leave of absence from the Today show from late 2024 until September 2025, and on Wednesday, Feb. 4, the broadcaster took a moment to thank the healthcare workers her family grew close to in Ojeh’s final days. 

During an emotional segment on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle, Jones revealed that Feb. 4 is her late husband’s birthday — the first she’s celebrated since his death. She decided to spend the day honoring the women from Hudson Valley Hospice who cared for Ojeh. 

“By the time we got to the end, we almost had this quiet little tribe of folks we felt were rooting for us, and kind of fell in love with our family,” the mother of three shared. “Things happened so fast in the end that I just haven’t had a chance to say thank you.”

Speaking about the nurses and specialists, Jones added through tears, “Honestly, the only reason I even have the strength to talk about it, is because I believe they are heroes. For them to take on your family as their own, they deserve all the love and attention we can give them. I will talk about it because these folks are angels here on Earth.” 

She recalled the first time her family entered Hudson Valley Hospice, saying that she was met with the message, “You’re not here to die. You’re here to live, and we’re gonna give you the best days that you have left.”

Jones thanked the nurses for making “the end feel easier to carry,” saying they “surrounded me and cared for me in the lowest of lows.”

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In a gesture of thanks, Jones surprised the five nurses with all expenses paid vacations to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for two. 

“Can you think of a better gift for Uche than giving to them?” co-host Jenna Bush Hager asked. 

“I literally picture Uche up there like,” Jones said, pumping her fist and looking up, “We love you guys so much, and the fact that this just happened to be on his birthday, there you go. His birthday gift to you guys.” 

Earlier in the broadcast, Jones got candid about struggling with this milestone in her grief. 

“I’ve just been so busy that I think I’ve underestimated how tough this one would be,” she said of Ojeh’s first birthday since his death. “And in some ways it’s harder than Thanksgiving and Christmas because you know those are coming and everybody knows it with you. So you’re fortified with love and calls. But this is one of those where it’s just kind of this tribe and people in our family.”

Jones also touched on the internal struggle the Today show family has been experiencing amid the ongoing investigation into Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother, Nancy. Guthrie has been absent from the NBC morning show all week as she remains with her family in Arizona hoping for news on her 84-year-old mother’s whereabouts as authorities believe she has been abducted. 

Jones has been filling in for Guthrie alongside Craig Melvin on the anchor desk all week. 

“Talk about holding two things,” Jones said. “I am anchoring the news, filling in for one of my best friends, who’s dealing with her stuff and then inside I know it’s Uche’s birthday.”