TULSA, Okla. — Right now Tulsa is experiencing a youth mental health crisis and the family of Makayla Brewster is sharing her story in hopes they can bring awareness and educate others about teen suicide.
Makayla Brewster had a natural beauty that captured everyone around her. She loved making TikTok videos, playing volleyball, and spending time with her sisters. The petite 12-year-old was just 5 days shy of her 13th birthday when the unthinkable happened.
"She had recently lost her grandmother 3 months before she passed, and during her down grief time, she had a little falling out with her best friend," said Angela Brewster, Makayla's mother.
That falling out all started with a phone call from a boy.
"She got a call late at night and told me who it was, and I just figured since her and him were friends, he was calling to send condolences."
But she says that boy had very different intentions.
"Come to find out, he had asked her for nude photos, and she said no."
That's when her mother says the intense, bullying began.
"I found out later that he had called her best friend at the time and told her that she had called him wanting him to go out with her."
Retaliation was swift in her so-called friend group.
"That led her little group of friends to call her names and tell her to go kill herself and just be mean girls."
Her mother says the heartache, isolation, and despair eventually became too much for Makayla and on February 11th, 2021 she took her own life.
As her family deals with the soul-crushing grief of losing their child Angela wants others to know that your words matter and never to forget — they can make or break another.
Makayla's family started a Facebook page called Justice for Makayla.
They stress how important it is for parents to talk to their children about kindness because no parent should ever have to lose a child.
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