Nolan Wells’ grieving mother became emotional as she spoke publicly about the overwhelming pain her family is carrying while they continue to wait for answers in the tragic death of her 18-year-old son.
“Right now everything is so heavy. Everything is so heavy. Just been going through the motions. I’m a health care provider so I talk about grief a lot,” Christine Wonsley said through tears in an Instagram video shared Thursday.
“Now to be on the other side of this, it’s a lot. I lost my mom a few years ago and that was hard. This loss, this pain, this grief hits different. It’s unsurmountable.”
Wonsley described the waves of anguish that have followed as authorities investigate the teenager’s apparent drowning during a Fourth of July boating trip with friends near Horn Island, off the Mississippi coast.
“One second I might be okay and I can talk about things and I can listen to his stories and the next minute I am falling apart,” she said.
“I feel like I can’t breathe and I feel like there is an elephant just sitting on my chest, but I know this is the process.”
Officials have not yet released Nolan Wells’ cause of death. Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter, however, has said there is no reason to believe foul play was involved.
Wonsley also expressed gratitude to the many people who have reached out with prayers, support and comforting messages for her devastated family.
“The loss is so fresh and still we haven’t been able to grieve,” she wrote.
“This loss hits so differently than anything I’ve ever experienced. My heart will never be whole again.”
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She said in her family’s darkest hour she’s turned to her faith to help her soldier on.
“I have a wonderful support system, I have my faith in God, which I’ve been leaning heavy into.”
Although nothing uncovered in the case so far points to anything other than an accidental death, Wonsley said she was pressing on in getting the whole story.
“I know if Nolan was here, he’d be like, ‘Mom, just keep talking to the people. Keep telling my story,’” she said.
Wells traveled with his friends to Horn Island but didn’t return with the group.
The boat — which had “like seven” people on board — experienced difficulty at around 4 p.m. before making the journey back, according to audio heard by NBC News.
Jackson County Chancery Judge Ashlee Cole – a mom of one of Wells’ pals – said her son last saw Wells at around 3 p.m.
“They left around 4:30 p.m. when the boat was taking on water and they had an issue with the bilge pump,” she said.
“Nolan made a decision to stay on the island and return inland later with another group of friends.”
Wells, from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, was reported missing the night of July 4 before his body was found two days later in the water, just off shore on the northwest end of the island, according to officials.
He was identified through his dental records.
