The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Staff Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

SHANTELL Swann lost her son on her birthday and will bury him two weeks before he would have turned 25.

Byron Williams, Jr, lost control of his car and sustained severe injuries on the Queen’s Highway, Grand Bahama, on October 28. He died in hospital, one of four people to die after an accident on that road this year.

His mother still wakes up at night expecting him to walk through the door.

She prays for strength but says: “It is tough and rough.”

Ms Swann got a call around 2.26am that Byron and his fiancée were in an accident and were taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Doctors said her son was in bad shape: his skull was fractured in three places, there was bleeding in his brain and injuries to the lungs.

 “The doctors told me it was not looking good, and when I went to visit my son in the ICU, the doctors said his pressure kept dropping, and they told me to prepare myself,” Ms Swann recalled.

 She got an urgent call hours later: Byron died around 7.05am.

 She last saw her son alive around 11.30pm when she picked him up from work at Port Lucaya after he finished a double shift at Agave Restaurant.

 She said he was excited that she would celebrate her birthday, adding: “He was bubbly, jumping, dancing, and was happy when I picked him up.”

 He dropped her off to work at Our Lucaya for the last time.

 He and his fiancée went to a club to meet a friend who was also celebrating a birthday. They were heading home when the accident occurred.

 Byron wanted to do much with his life and had big dreams. He was family-oriented and was a good father to his five-year-old daughter, according to his mother.

 Ms Swann said her son was on a positive course in life, reading motivational books and hanging with people who mentored him, particularly his cousin, Arthur Jones, Jr.

 She said he had a passion for music. He played the trumpet and drums and was learning to play the steel pans. He also composed music.

“He impacted a lot of people when he changed his life, and he was well-loved throughout the community,” she said.

 The family, including two siblings, is trying to cope with the loss, especially as Byron’s birthday approaches on November 24.

 Ms Swann said Byron’s sister and brother, 28, and 21, are in denial about his death and his father is devastated.

 She said his daughter knew what happened and said her father was an angel watching over her.

 “I want everybody to know that my son was the best dad, the best son he could be, and the best fiancée,” she said. “He always put his family first. He had big dreams that he is not here to fulfil, but God knows best.”

 Byron’s funeral will be on November 11 at Kingdom Worship Centre.