‘Mama, I tried, I tried,’ says sister of teen killed by tree limb

Bubblez — the nickname given to La’Rena Drayton by her grandmother — answered her sister and scooped up her little boy Friday at a Polk County park. That’s when a large tree limb seemed to fall out of the sky, hitting both the 16-year-old mother and her son.

“(Jada) kept saying, ‘Mama I tried, I tried. I tried to go back to get her,” Gina Drayton, the girls’ mother said.

But Bubblez was knocked unconscious by the limb and later died at Floyd Medical Center in Rome. Little Jeremiah Drayton, who turned 1 in March, remained in critical condition Monday at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. His skull was fractured.

Gina Drayton said she can’t get the image out of her head of her daughter lying motionless in the emergency room. Drayton said she pleaded with Rena to wake up, promising her plenty of her favorite french fries. But it was too late, and Drayton knew she had lost her.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Drayton has told her younger daughter. “Bubblez understands.”

While grieving the death of the rising Cedartown High School 11th grader, the Drayton family is hopeful that young Jeremiah will survive his injuries. The extent of his injuries is unknown, and he’s not yet alert. But his grandmother is hopeful.

“I know he’s going to be all right. He’s a fighter,” Gina Drayton said. “He was born at 26 weeks.”

Drayton said her close-knit family moved to Chattanooga in March 2014 to be near Jeremiah, who spent weeks in the hospital after being born premature. When Jeremiah was strong enough, the family returned to Cedartown, Drayton said.

Funeral arrangements were pending late Monday, but the Drayton hopes to hold a funeral for Bubblez in Savannah, where the family is from originally. A Go Fund Me fundraising page, created to assist the family with funeral costs, featured a heartbreaking note from Jada, who said she still wishes she was fast enough to save Bubblez.

Less than two weeks ago, Bubblez told her best friend and Jeremiah’s godmother, Baquria McCarthren, that she loved her. McCarthren, 14, said she told her friend she loved her back. McCarthren said it could have been her in the park with her friend and Jeremiah. She often went with them and pushed the little boy in a swing.

Since losing her friend, McCarthren said she’s had panic attacks. She hasn’t visited Jeremiah yet in the hospital for fear of having a panic attack, but she’s planning to as soon as she’s strong enough.

“I know that’s what she would want,” McCarthren said.