Hailey Okula’s husband, Matt, is paying tribute to the influencer one year after her death at age 33.
“Crew’s 1st Birthday 🎂March 29 was Crew’s first birthday, and also a day of reflecting on losing Hailey a year earlier. Being surrounded by family and close friends at Hailey and my favorite campground made it a very special day for all of us. 🤍🪽,” he wrote via Instagram on Thursday, April 2. “Thank you again @kelmile for capturing all of these memories 🙏.”
Alongside the message, Matt shared a series of photos from the “Camp Crew” themed event with the couple’s son, including one image of candles lit around a banner that read, “In loving memory. Hailey Marie Okula. Forever in our hearts.”
In an interview with People published on Thursday, Matt shared that celebrating their son’s first birthday while also remembering the day they “lost” Hailey was “bittersweet.” Matt, however, noted that “joy and grief can coexist.” He noted that “that may be the case for quite some time. I’ve accepted that and I’m OK with it.”
“I can say I’m doing much better and I’m proud of how far I’ve come in this journey,” he said. “I still have tough and emotional days, but I’m grateful to have a strong support system that’s always there to lift me up when I need it.”
In March 2025, Matt shared that Hailey died shortly after Crew was born via C-section.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I share the devastating news of the unexpected passing of my beautiful wife, Hailey Marie Okula,” Matthew wrote via Instagram. “Words cannot convey the depth of the loss I feel. Hailey was more than I could have ever dreamed of in a wife and partner. She was gorgeous, smart, hardworking, passionate, trustworthy, and above all else, unbelievably loyal. For nearly 13 years, she stood by my side in the hardest of times, loving me endlessly, even when I felt undeserving of that love. She was my everything.”
He continued, “Hailey’s strength was unparalleled. Words can’t describe how badly we wanted to be parents. After years of infertility struggles and a long, challenging IVF process, we were overjoyed to be expecting Crew,” Matthew continued. “Hailey faced every hurdle with so much courage and love — even though her body went through so much, she never wavered.”
Matt wrote that he would “never forget the moment” when he “broke down, apologizing for the toll the process would take on her.”
“She held my face, looked into my eyes, and said, ‘We are a team, and we’ll get through this together.’ That was Hailey. A fighter. A teammate. A woman who would do anything for the people she loved,” he wrote. “Though her time with us was tragically cut short, Hailey’s love for Crew was limitless, long before he entered this world. She would have been the most amazing mom. Her spirit, courage, and love will live on in our son, and through everyone whose lives she touched.”
It was later revealed that Hailey went into cardiac arrest following an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE), which is when “amniotic fluid, fetal cells, or debris enter the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy, triggering a severe immune-like reaction,” Dr. Precious Barnes, DO, a family medicine physician specializing in women’s health and fertility, exclusively told Luxury Handbag Shopping.
“This can lead to sudden heart and lung failure, uncontrolled bleeding and organ damage,” Barnes explained.
