Members of Hailey Okula’s community are coming together to support the late nursing influencer’s husband and newborn baby.
A GoFundMe campaign launched for Hailey’s husband and son has raised more than $285,000 and posted an update on Thursday, April 3. “Thanks to your incredible support, Matt and Crew now have plenty of diapers, breast milk and the basic necessities, Hailey made sure they would never go without,” the post read. “If you still feel called to give, we invite you to do so in a way that honors Hailey’s mission: find a parent in need and bless them in her name. Let’s help the ones who don’t have the spotlight right now. Let’s carry on Hailey’s legacy — not just in memory but in action.”
Hailey died on Saturday, March 29, at the age of 33 shortly after giving birth to son Crew. She suffered cardiac arrest following complications from the delivery.
“The doctors say it was from a very, very rare complication known as amniotic fluid embolism,” Matthew told Fox11LA in an interview that aired on Wednesday, April 2. “There’s no treatment, there’s no way of diagnosing it. It’s so sad to think of other people having to go through what I’m going through right now.”
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According to the firefighter, Hailey had a “split second” with Crew before she needed CPR.
“We had a quick little laugh [and] she had a little tear on her face,” Matthew recalled to the outlet. “Me and Crew walked out of the room and they said they were finishing up, she’ll be there in a moment. Literally a minute later, the doctor came in and let me know they’re doing CPR on her. I’m making the decision, ‘Am I going to the ICU with my wife or am I staying with my newborn baby?’ Not the decision we thought I’d be making.”
Matthew met Hailey, a former gymnast, during college several years before they tied the knot. After two years of navigating infertility, the couple completed a successful cycle of IVF in April 2024. Hailey announced via Instagram the following September that she was pregnant.
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“She wanted to be a mom, so incredibly bad. She never put it on me, and the reality is it’s my fertility issues,” Matthew added on Wednesday’s broadcast. “We found out [at the time and] she grabbed me and said, ‘We’re a team. We’re getting through this together.’”
Following Hailey’s sudden death, members of her family launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Matthew cover funeral expenses, household bills, future baby supplies and paternity leave.
“This isn’t about charity — it’s about duty, about standing by one of our own when he needs us the most,” the GoFundMe description reads. “As firefighters, we never leave a brother behind. As a community, we step up when our family is hurting. Every dollar raised will give Matt the space he needs to begin the long road to healing and ensure that Crew is surrounded by the love and security Hailey dreamed of for him.”
