Influencer Estee Williams Reveals the One Thing She’s Looking Forward to Doing After Daughter’s Life-Saving Heart Transplant (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Estee Williams and her husband, Conner, welcomed their first child, daughter Estelle, in September 2025. Days later, the infant was diagnosed with a ventricular septal heart defect

• During her repair surgery, doctors discovered the hole in Estelle’s heart was far more severe than initially determined

• The 5-month-old currently remains in the hospital awaiting a life-saving heart transplant

Estee Williams made her name on social media as a tradwife influencer, sharing videos to promote her homemaker lifestyle to her 300,000 followers. Today, after making an active pivot away from the controversial trend and becoming a mom, Williams’ content looks completely different.

On Sept. 5, 2025, the social media creator and her husband, Conner, welcomed their daughter Estelle. Two days later, the newborn was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect (VSD), meaning there was a hole in her heart.

According to Mayo Clinic, a smaller VSD can close naturally, causing the infant no problems, however infants with larger defects can require surgery to prevent complications. VSD is considered a common birth defect, affecting about one in 100 newborns, per the American Heart Association.

However, doctors discovered that Estelle’s case was an anomaly as they performed open-heart surgery on the then-11-week-old baby.

“The team discovered that Estelle’s VSD was far larger than expected, measuring [three centimeters], well beyond what is considered large, and the biggest this surgeon had ever seen or repaired,” Williams tells PEOPLE months later. “Estelle faced an incredibly complex postoperative course.”

The infant has had four heart surgeries and survived two cardiac arrests, one that lasted eight minutes with CPR and a more recent instance that lasted over an hour. During the latter, doctors determined Estelle’s heart was no longer able to support her body, as her pulse never came back. She was placed on ECMO life support to allow her organs and heart recovery time.

“That’s when we were told she would need a heart transplant to leave the hospital,” Williams recalls. Since receiving the news, neither Williams nor Conner has left their daughter’s hospital bedside, where she is currently supported by a Berlin Heart, making her one of only 60 children in the world to use the external ventricular assist device.

In the hospital, which Williams calls their “home for now,” the parents spend their time reading to Estelle, holding her hands and propping her up to look out of the window whenever she’s away and able. “These quiet moments mean everything to us,” says the new mom.

It’s a reality Williams admits she and Conner never imagined facing. They lean on each other and their families for support. Williams devotes time to prayer and learning about her daughter’s heart condition and transplants more generally.

Still, their current “home” is a devastatingly difficult space to occupy, says Williams, especially as she watches her baby “rely on machines to keep her alive” while they wait for an organ donation.

“I have never felt more scared and more blessed at the same time,” she tells PEOPLE. “In the cardiac PICU, I’ve been closer to death than I ever imagined, and closer to the mercy and presence of God. The hospital is a place where grief and beauty coexist, and it’s a feeling unlike anything else.”

At her lowest points, Williams thinks of the advice she received from her brother, who went through cancer treatment years ago. Though her world feels constantly in flux, and the timeline often appears to stretch, “making it feel like you take one step forward and two steps back,” Williams says her sibling helped her adopt a forward-focused mindset.

“This is a marathon, not a race. We may be here for a while, and that’s OK, as long as I get to walk out of this hospital with my daughter in my arms,” says Williams.

“It may sound funny, but I can’t wait to change her diapers the way I like to do them and to put her on my chest and comfort her the way we did back at home,” she adds. “We haven’t held Estelle since December 22nd, the night before she got put on life support.”

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Once Estelle receives a new heart, Williams says she and Conner will need to live a “quieter, more careful life for a couple months” due to Estelle taking immunosuppressants to support the transplant. Williams won’t mind the change in lifestyle at all.

“There’s joy in that too, staying low-key, soaking up every snuggle we missed while she was in the hospital and cherishing our little family moments,” says Williams. “We truly cannot wait to watch our baby girl grow, to see her personality shine more and more, and to simply enjoy the gift of life with her every single day.”

Read the original article on People