Two weeks after influencer Sara Bennett’s death following a battle with ALS, her husband, Rusty Bennett, is looking back at her first signs of illness.
Rusty, 43, revealed that Sara, a teacher before her 2023 retirement, first noticed something was off when her right hand wouldn’t function properly when she tried to clip some of her students’ papers together.
“I was like, ‘Here,’ and I clipped it together for her, and that was it. She just went about her day, grading some things,” Rusty recalled in an interview with People published on Monday, January 26, adding that Sara decided to visit her doctor after the “weird numbness” in her hand continued for a week.
Sara and Rusty, who shared sons Lincoln, 9, and William, 7, initially believed that she had a pinched nerve. However, a doctor informed them that the issue may have been rooted in her spine or brain.
“That’s when the — pardon my French — ‘Oh, s***’ started,” Rusty continued, recalling that Sara endured tests and procedures over the following year. “It’s a miserable journey. There’s just no way. ALS is disqualifying 1,000 things.”
After ruling out multiple sclerosis and cancer, Sara’s doctors diagnosed her with ALS and gave her a life expectancy of two to five years.
In the spring of 2025, Rusty and Sara sat their sons down to prepare them for their mother’s death.
“It was [the] worst conversation I’ve had to have my entire life,” Rusty told the outlet. “And they handled it way better than us.”
To her family’s surprise, Sara made it through the holiday season last year and was able to celebrate Rusty’s birthday on New Year’s Eve.
“It was awesome. We got to watch the ball drop,” he recalled. “[Sara] was in our primary bedroom; she wasn’t really able to go anywhere for the last couple months, but we just partied right there in the bedroom.”
Sara posthumously announced her own death at age 39 via a pre-written message on January 13.
“I am not in pain, or tired. I can laugh, talk, and I can move,” she wrote via Instagram, where she amassed more than 114,000 followers. “Reflecting in my last few months of my life, I am glad I didn’t go suddenly even WITH the suffering. I finished my list. Even if you don’t believe in anything, I am feeding the earth, and my tree. I loved this life, and am grateful for the time.”
Rusty broke his silence on his wife’s death one week later.
“We’ve both been blessed. I’m really close with my family, and [Sara] has a great family and tons of friends,” he told People in an interview published on January 20. “Everybody’s definitely reached out and [is] doing their best to help.”
Recalling their mini New Year’s Eve party, Rusty added, “It was unexpected and quite wonderful to even have her there. The kids went to bed, and we had to do our nighttime routine to get her to bed, and it was just like, ‘Wow. It’s 2026. You made it.’”
