Influencer Shay Martin is sharing a heartbreakingly beautiful update one year after her husband Tanner Martin died from colon cancer.
“I know there are a lot of people on the internet that care a lot about AmyLou and I, so if that’s you this message is for you,” Shay said over a compilation video shared via Instagram on Sunday, August 2. “I’ve seen a lot of questions asking how AmyLou and I are doing and where we are in life. It’s been a year filled with both heartbreaking sadness but also incredible blessings.”
She continued, “In the past year we’ve welcomed AmyLou, we’ve lost Tanner, I moved to Arizona, where I grew up, and I found love again.”
Tanner was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in November 2020. In June 2026, the influencer announced his own death at 30 years old, shortly after he and Shay welcomed their daughter, AmyLou, in May.
“Hey, it’s me, Tanner, if you’re watching this, I am dead,” he said at the time. “I had a heck of a life. I decided to make this video announcing my death because I saw someone did that, like, a year ago, and I think it’s a good opportunity to get all your thoughts out.”
In her Sunday upload, Shay touched on what Tanner had wished for her in the wake of his death, revealing that all her late husband had hoped to find is what she now has in a new partner.
“Many of you saw Tanner express his wishes for me in a video, but I had the privilege of living this conversations with him many times over the course of the five years he fought cancer,” she explained. “I lost Tanner slowly over five years. Only the spouses that have gone through this know what that is actually like and what that does.”
She added, “Tanner knew what that journey looked like for me and for our family. One of the greatest hopes Tanner had was that I would find someone who would love AmyLou as his own and honor the life Tanner and I built together. I am incredibly grateful to say that I found that person. He has never asked me to leave Tanner behind. Never. He honors my memory with Tanner. He honors Tanner. He celebrates the love that I had and have for Tanner. And he loves AmyLou the way Tanner would want AmyLou to be loved.”
The influencer went on to emphasize that “moving forward is not the same as moving on,” adding that while she doesn’t expect people who have never lost a spouse or loved one to understand she hopes those who don’t know listen to the widows and widowers that do.
“I remember thinking to myself, even during the five years Tanner fought cancer, ‘I’m never going to remarry. I’m going to be alone and I’m just going to live with that,’” she said. “And eventually, I changed and decided that there is enough love to give, you can never run out of love. And I will never graduate from grief.”
In the accompanying video, the influencer shared old videos of herself and Tanner, more recent videos of their daughter, AmyLou, and videos showing her new husband proposing, moments from their wedding, her husband feeding AmyLou and waiting for her while she visits Tanner’s grave.
“Through every step of this journey the people who knew us personally and loved us best — my family, Tanner’s family, our closest friends — they have walked alongside us at every single point,” she said. “They’ve grieved with us, they’ve supported us and they celebrated with us when we found joy and love again.”
As Shay enters this new chapter of her life, she clarified that the page she and her late husband created was never meant to become a “reality TV show” or a window into every second of her private life. Instead, she will continue to share portions of her life when she wants, how she wants, while staying focused on what matters most.
“My first responsibility is to my family and not the internet,” she said, going on to add, “Tanner’s legacy was one of kindness, hope and assuming good intent.”
“That is the legacy I intend to continue honoring,” she concluded. “I’ll do this by sharing goodness, educating others and bringing awareness to causes that matter.”
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