“I was like, ‘It’s gonna be fine,’” the “Today” anchor recalled telling husband Uche Ojeh.

Sheinelle Jones thought late husband would beat cancer: ‘Not once did I think I was going to lose him’

"I was like, 'It's gonna be fine,'" the "Today" anchor recalled telling husband Uche Ojeh.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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January 14, 2026 12:48 p.m. ET

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Sheinelle Jones on the 'Today' show. Credit:

Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty

Sheinelle Jones is opening up about losing her husband of 17 years, Uche Ojeh, to cancer last year.

Reflecting on his cancer battle for a recent PEOPLE cover story, the *Today With Jenna and Sheinelle* anchor said that the couple were in the midst of applying to high schools for their eldest son when she first noticed that something was wrong. On more than one occasion, she heard her husband stumbling over words or struggling to speak in a way he never had — so she reached out to NBC News medical contributor and frequent *Today* guest, Dr. Natalie Azar.

"I called her that day after the show and she called back pretty quickly and said, 'Hey, have him go and get an MRI,'" Jones recalled. "I had to work that next day and he went to the emergency room and I honestly didn't think anything else of it. So I went to bed and then I remember popping up around 1 o'clock in the morning and I was like, 'Oh, he's not here.'"

Sheinelle Jones and Uche Ojeh in 2019.

Bennett Raglin/Getty

Jones, who was lying in bed with their youngest son at her side, called her husband and got an immediate response: "I'm like, 'Hey, where are you?' And he's like, 'I'm outside on the stoop,'" she recounted. "And I'm like, 'What?'"

Ojeh then explained that he came home but didn't want to wake the sleeping pair. "So he comes in and he's like, 'Hold on.' So he picks up my little guy and carries him up two flights of stairs and then comes back and he hands me the paperwork and is like, 'I think I have cancer,'" Jones said.

While she was still in disbelief, it was clear that Ojeh had spent hours processing the news.

"He said, 'I'm pretty sure, because the nurse that gave me the paper, her hand was shaking and she looked like she was trying not to cry. But I don't think it's good,'" Jones continued. "I was like, 'It's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine. Well figure it out. I'm sure it's something else.'"

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After reassuring him, she suggested that they meet at the hospital the next day to get a new MRI. So when morning came, Jones headed into work like it was any other day.

"That was when I learned the power of compartmentalizing and how our bodies will compartmentalize in ways that you don't even know are possible," she told PEOPLE. "I went to work that day [and] I didn't worry about it. I did the show, I did something extra for the show after and then I looked at the clock like, let me head on over."

Uche Ojeh and Sheinelle Jones.

sheinelle_o/Instagram

Together, the couple sat in the lobby filling out high school applications for their son. But once the test results were in, their day took a heavy turn.

"Within minutes the doctor came back and he pulled us behind a curtain. That was when I was like, 'Uh-oh,'" Jones recalled. "The doctor was very matter of fact and he was like, 'I'm very sorry to tell you this but you have glioblastoma.' And then I'm like, 'What's that?' And Uche put his hands on his knees and he was like, 'That's the worst one you can have.'"

Glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer for which there is no cure, per the Mayo Clinic. Treatments might slow cancer growth and reduce symptoms, which include nausea and vomiting, blurred or double vision, trouble speaking, altered sense of touch, and seizures.

Jones shared that after leaving the hospital, she immediately began reaching out to friends with expertise, only to get a disheartening response.

"When you call some of your best friends in life who are physicians and they start crying immediately, you're like, 'Oh, this isn't good,'" she admitted. "But even then, you just don't know what you don't know."

Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones on 'Today With Jenna and Sheinelle'.

Thus began a very determined fight for the couple. "I hate asking for things but for the first time in my life I was like, 'Maybe I'm in this job and in this chair for a reason,'" she continued. "So I just got to work. My colleagues got to work, all the doctors I know got to work and we just scoured the country for the latest and greatest in clinical trials. We did everything we could."

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Along the way, Jones continued going into work as a cohost of *3rd Hour of Today* with Dylan Dreyer, Al Roker, and Craig Melvin. She noted that they were determined to keep Ojeh's cancer battle private "because he wanted to beat it and then we would talk about it."

Ojeh died at 45 on May 23 after a courageous battle with cancer. Jones always believed Ojeh would beat it.**** “Not once did I think I was going to lose him," she said. "When you're a woman of faith, you realize that you're praying for an outcome and then if the outcome doesn't come, *then what?* And that's when I've really had to dig deep and realize that maybe I just don't fully understand. I know God loves me and I know God loves [Uche] and I know God loves my children and our families, so like, why is this happening? I still don't know if I have the answer, but I have peace that passes all understanding. That's a Bible verse. It doesn't mean that it's easier. It doesn't mean that my grief is not excruciating."**** For a time, Jones stepped back from *Today*. She returned in September, for an emotional conversation with Savannah Guthrie, and eventually took on her new role as Jenna Bush Hager's permanent cohost.**** As for where she is in the grieving process, she shared that she's taking it day by day.

"People see me on TV and they think 'Oh, she’s better.' It’s like, 'Oh, no no. I’m not better,'" she admitted. "Every day, it’s like swimming through mud. I’ve had to really do the work. Empathy is my superpower now, and I recognize that I hold two things: I hold my grief, and I also hold this joy. I said it months ago, and I’ll say it now: I am *fighting* for my joy."

Watch Jones discuss her husband's cancer battle above.

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Source: “EW Talk”