‘Without having to move, she moved our souls.’ Child dies 4 years after Turlock crash
In photo upon photo, Genevieve “GG” Grayson’s smile simply beams. Here she is dressed as a princess, her wheelchair transformed into a carriage. There she is as a woodland fairy. In another shot, she’s styled like JoJo Siwa and holds a paper cutout of the dancer, singer and YouTube personality’s head.
There are snapshots on social media of GG with her mom and dad, Shawnta’ Lynnell and Ryant Grayson, little sister Gia, cousin Kaitlyn and other family members.
But as family photos do, these capture the happy times. GG’s wheelchair, ever present in any picture of her since March 2017, is the only hint that life for this little girl also included pain, frustration and heartache. Far too much of it.
It was a life that ended May 31.
Former Turlock resident GG, left quadriplegic when the Volvo sedan carrying her, her mother and sister was struck by a speeding driver on March 29, 2017, died on Memorial Day.
In a phone interview, the little girl’s aunt, Khiana Block, said GG recently began having complications with her tracheostomy tube. She wasn’t getting enough oxygen, had grand mal seizures and suffered “catastrophic brain injury just pretty much overnight.”
Block said her sister, Lynnell, checked on GG in their Fresno home, found her somewhat unresponsive, called 911 and started CPR on her daughter. GG didn’t recover.
‘My baby is not sad anymore’
Lynnell, not up to being interviewed, wrote poignantly on Facebook about her daughter’s death. The June 2 post reads, in part, “I find solace and peace in knowing my baby is not sad anymore, she’s not frustrated anymore, she’s not angry anymore, she’s not scared and confused anymore. She’s back to this little girl twirling , dancing, hopping, and running! No more breathing machines, no more (doctor) appointments, no more insulin shots, no more being confined to a chair.”
In a post two days later, Lynnell announced that GG was an organ donor, a hero whose death gifted someone with “another chance at life.”
It was GG’s nature to be a giver, even when the horrific crash at West Hawkeye Avenue and North Golden State Boulevard in Turlock took so much from her, her aunt said.
The child put on her smile to comfort her loved ones, Block said, because she knew they were having a hard time, too.
“But under it all ... she was struggling with the fact that she was a very energetic, lively little girl before the accident,” Block said, “and then all this creativity and energy was just trapped in her body and she couldn’t move. So of course she had a lot of anguish, a lot of frustration.”
GG wouldn’t want to dwell too long on the negative, though, so her aunt points out that she also was a resilient child who loved to play with Gia and cousin Kaitlyn (Block’s granddaughter), who was more like another sister.
She was talkative, despite having to rely on a ventilator, and was a “brilliant” child who understood her body well and played a big part in her own care, Block said. “If I was watching her, she’d be like, ‘Auntie, don’t move me, wait till I finish having my spasm,’ or , ‘If I have a headache, my medicine is in the cabinet there.’”
Both girls suffered traumatic brain injury
GG suffered some brain damage in the crash, so getting her to understand some things could take a bit of explaining, her aunt said. She went to school, and despite having a lot of anxiety, was learning to enjoy it and was starting to make friends, Block said.
Little sister Gia, too, suffered some permanent brain injury in the crash, in addition to the femur, fibula and tibia in one of her legs being broken, her grandmother Vickie Block said.
Because of the leg injuries, the 5-year-old is prone to falling when she tries to run. And the brain injury affects her motor skills, keeping her from such things as fully dressing herself or holding a pencil correctly.
And Gia is struggling a lot with GG’s death, her grandmother said. “It still hasn’t registered that her sister is gone. She’s stopped asking about her, and she’s just been very sad and quiet.” The family believes Kaitlyn, the third member of the girls’ little “three amigas” group, will be key to helping her recover.
Gia also may draw strength from memories of her sister, and from what her family is sure to tell her about over the years to come.
Block said she’ll remember her niece as courageous and selfless. “Everything was never about her,” she said of GG. “... She knew that without having to move, she moved our souls.”
The other driver in the 2017 crash, Delhi resident Jorge Tello, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of reckless driving causing serious injuries.
At the time of conviction, July 2018, Deputy District Attorney John R. Mayne said Tello received a three-year prison sentence that would be suspended pending the successful completion of five years of probation.
The prosecutor said the court also would sentence Tello to 60 days in the Stanislaus County Jail and order him to pay restitution.
With credit for time served, Tello was confined for 17 days, according to the Stanislaus County Superior Court case index. His supervised probation ends Aug. 1, 2023.
GG’s aunt Shawntee James opened a gofundme account, “GG’s Funeral Expenses,” to go toward a burial plot and funeral service.
This story was originally published June 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
