A North Carolina man died Friday after a wave hit his head and broke his neck at the beach. Lee Dingle, husband to Christian blogger Shannon Dingle and father of six, was playing with his kids when the accident occurred.
Shannon, a sex-trafficking survivor and writer for Sojourners, announced her husband’s death on Twitter and Instagram:
My partner, my love, and my home died today after a freak accident. Lee was playing on the beach with three of our kids yesterday, and an intense wave hit him just right to slam his head into the sand and break his neck. 1/
— Shannon Dingle (@ShannonDingle) July 20, 2019
Shannon says several people, including her kids, tried to save Lee, but his body couldn’t recover from the initial injury. His throat swelled up for too long, depriving his brain of oxygen.
“We met when I was 18 and he was 19, and we’ve been together ever since,” she says. “I wasn’t supposed to be saying goodbye at 37. I don’t know how to be a grown up without him, but I’ll learn. I just wish I didn’t have to.”
Friends created a GoFundMe page to help pay for the Dingles’ funeral expenses.
“Lee loved and lived generously,” according to the page. “The magnitude of this loss cannot be understated.”
The Dingles adopted several of their children, one of whom has cerebral palsy, and documented their journey through Shannon’s blog.
