Willows family suffers tragedies

A Willows family recently received two big blows.

On Dec. 3, Lee Williams and his youngest son John were killed in a car accident in Wisconsin. Then, on Jan. 15, the family was told one of its youngest members may have just six months to a year to live.

Collin Williams, the son of Adam Williams, was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease, according to Lisa Davis, Lee Williams' sister.

Adam Williams is Lee Williams' middle son, and brother to John.

Collin suffers from Krabbe Disease. In a twist of fate, this inherited degenerative disorder of the central and peripheral nervous systems is passed on to children only when both parents are carriers.

"It's the same disease that football player Jim Kelly's son died of," Davis said.

According to the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Krabbe Disease "most often affects infants, with onset before age 6 months, but can occur in adolescence or adulthood."

As a result, Adam and Candice Williams are having their 3-year-old tested for the disease as well.

Symptoms include unexplained fever, limb stiffness, vomiting, feeding difficulties, a slowing of mental and motor functions, seizures and strokes, the Institute's Web site notes.

Davis said Collin has experienced "regressive growth."

Now 8 months old, he can no longer hold up his head He also has trouble breathing, so he is on oxygen, and must be fed through a tube.

Collin's symptoms began shortly after having surgery to correct the cleft palate with which he was born.

Davis said, when he started having seizures and strokes, the doctor's thought they were related to the surgery or that he had cerebral palsy — a common misdiagnosis, she said.

Blood work was shipped to a lab in Pennsylvania that specializes in finding rare neurological diseases. It took three weeks for the results to come back, Davis said.

When she recently asked Adam Williams whether Collin is in pain, he replied, "He cries a lot," she said.

Hard times

Adam Williams, 35, grew up in Willows, graduating from Willows High. About six years ago, he moved to Georgia to be near his mother, Davis said.

He met Candice at church, got married and now calls a small Georgia town home. It is about two hours from Atlanta Children's Hospital, where they take Collin for treatment.

As a construction worker, Adam Williams does not have insurance, and has not had much work this winter, his aunt said. And with three small children, including Collin who requires constant attention, Candice Williams stays home to care for the family.

The combination of lack of insurance and work and the expense of caring for a terminally ill child have Adam and Candice Williams under financial pressure.

"Adam has been reluctant to ask for anything," Davis said, so she has had to appeal to him repeatedly to let family know how things are.

Davis said he finally admitted that, even though his in-laws are very supportive, his young family is about a month behind in all their bills.

"They need help to pay for ordinary bills," such as gasoline for the car, electrical and heating bills and "to put food on the table," she added.

Davis wired money to the family on Sunday, "so they can have heat in the house. They were out of propane." she said.

The money came from family and other supporters, some whom did not know Adam, but who knew his father, she added.

Davis set up a bank account where well-wishers can make a donation. She said they did it because "so many people were asking how they could help."

"It's my way of trying to help him," she said.

Contact Lydia Harris at 934-6800 or lharris@tcnpress.com.

DONATIONS

Donations can be made to the Collin Aubrey Lee Williams Memorial Fund at Tri-Counties Bank, 210 N. Tehama St.. For more information, call Davis at 934-4890.