Influencer Grace Nguyen announced that her husband, Zach Nguyen, died following a lengthy battle with cancer.
“Not a fun puzzle post to share. My husband passed away two weeks ago,” Grace, known as “Grace Puzzles” online, wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, May 6. “It still doesn’t feel real. … I am so grateful for the time we had but it’s really hard processing that it is already over. I love you, Zach, and I am so proud of how hard you fought ❤️❤️❤️.”
Grace further revealed that Zach died on April 22, which was their “one and half year anniversary.”
Grace and Zach got married in October 2024, weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer.
“It makes me happy and sad looking at pictures before he was diagnosed. Everything was going so well,” the influencer wrote on Wednesday. “I wish we had more time like this.”
The couple planned to move to Hawaii, where he received a job offer, before Zach’s diagnosis.
“We even started renting an apartment in Honolulu last summer because the doctors were telling us he was about to go into remission,” Grace recalled. “That never happened, instead, we ended up going to Indiana for a last ‘curable’ treatment consisting of two stem cell transplants and high-dose chemo.”
The treatment did not shrink Zach’s tumors, and the couple relocated to their native Colorado in October 2025.
“Once we got back, Zach decided to start living and enjoying life because it was looking like time was limited,” she explained on Wednesday. “From November to February, we went on two cruises, two Vegas trips and to Japan. I’m sad he didn’t get to do more, but he definitely made the most of the time he had.”
Grace continued, “I’m very grateful to all of his and our friends that came along and spent time and made some of this stuff happen. It’s unbearably sad [that] our story ended this soon, but I will cherish the memories forever.”
As Zach battled cancer, Grace started sharing Instagram videos of her attempt at completing an 18,000-piece puzzle.
“My husband got me this puzzle when we were at the Mayo Clinic last month for a clinical trial,” Grace wrote in an April social media post. “When we were at the store, I wanted the 3,000-piece puzzle. He told me that was lame and he was getting me the 18,000-piece one. He told me he wanted me to stay busy for a long time. I knew what this meant. He wants me to stay busy when he’s gone.”
Zach encouraged Grace to document her puzzling progress via Instagram. Her account now has more than 42,000 followers.
Days before Zach’s death, one of the couple’s loved ones launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover medical bills and living expenses that also would give Grace “a small sense of security as she begins to rebuild her life.” More than $8,000 has been raised out of a $9K goal at the time of publication.
