On June 5, 2016, I received that phone call every mother fears via Messenger. “Brannon had been shot nine times, and it doesn’t look very good. He’s been admitted to a local hospital.” My heart dropped in my shoes, and I was 30 minutes away. I arrived to the hospital safely. Brannon was admitted to the ICU after undergoing emergency surgery. By God’s grace and mercy, Brannon survived for four days before he passed away in recovery after his second surgery, on June 9, 2016: the worst day of my life!
Brannon, 22, was my youngest of two boys. My family and I suffered a tremendous loss. Since Brannon’s loss, I wrote a short memoir about him, “It Could Easily Happen To You,” and formed a community organization, IAMHISVOICE LLC, in his honor. My focus is to bring awareness to gun violence to prevent other families from living my worst nightmare and losing their loved ones to such a heinous act.
Gun violence has become so prevalent, and the senseless act is sending our children to an early grave. Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children. Our children are supposed to bury us.