PANAMA CITY — His riveting blue eyes captivated all eyes that fell on him. In person or through photos on Facebook, everyone agreed that there was something special about baby William Snow.
“No matter what, he always had this look in his eyes of just pure love,” said Ann Nelson, William’s grandmother. “Anybody who has met William … not one of them did not fall in love with William.”
“I will always remember about him is the fact that he never gave up,” she added, pausing to take a breath.
The 6-month-old baby died Wednesday.
William’s heart rate and oxygen levels dropped for the first time Sunday night and then a second time Wednesday at about noon, according to Nelson.
He died at about 8:40 p.m. Wednesday in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center.
Born July 28, 2013 and with severe birth defects, including cleft lip and palate — physical conditions which helped to exacerbate a respiratory problem he would develop — his parents, Ben and Kimmy Snow, struggled to pay medical costs throughout their son’s life. The couple fell into an unfortunate gap of a group of people whose income is too high for state assistance and too low to bear the medical costs on their own.
In a News Herald story, Kimmy Snow posed the question: “People who make money aren’t guaranteed a perfect child, so why should we have any less of a chance to get assistance?”
“It has been a fight … to get to this point, to get any care for him,” she said then.
Friends of the family and baby William’s fans — several of whom were acquired through Facebook — poured out prayers and funds to help the family in response to The News Herald story.
Those same caring people responded with condolences following Nelson’s Wednesday night post.
“God has a new angel in heaven,” wrote Nelson, in the first Facebook post that announced the baby’s passing on Wednesday. “Your Gaga loves you William Paul Snow.”
Several people responded, generating hundreds of likes throughout Nelson’s Facebook page.
“Ann, like everyone else here, I fell in love with your beautiful William through your posts and pictures of him since his birth,” Ronni McDaniel wrote in a Facebook post Thursday morning. “For someone who was here so briefly, he certainly touched a lot of lives.”
Sheri Hayes wrote in a post Thursday: “He was such a precious gift to so many who never got the chance to hold or hug him. My prayer is that our God will give your family peace, guidance, comfort and love.”
Thursday afternoon, Kimmy Snow responded to the posts on Facebook and invited everyone to attend William’s funeral services.
“Everyone who wishes to come see William is more than welcome,” Snow wrote. “I know he would love to see each and every one of your smiling faces. Again, thank you all so very much. We love each and every one of you.”
Visitation and rosary will be Sunday at Southerland Funeral Home, 100 E. 19th St. from 6 to 8 p.m. The funeral will be Tuesday at St. Dominic Catholic Church, 3308 E. 15th St., at 10 a.m. The public is invited to attend both.
“Thank you to everyone for their loving thoughts and kind words,” she wrote in the same post. “Our family is a little less whole and we will never be the same without our little man by our sides.”
WANT TO HELP?
-Details: Account No. 63494009 at Panhandle Educator’s Federal Credit Union has been set up to help pay medical costs and offset funeral expenses.