NFL Star Shaq Barrett’s Daughter Drowned at Home – His Touching Tribute after Months in Grief

• NFL star Shaquil “Shaq” Barrett tragically lost one of his baby daughters after she drowned at home after recently celebrating her 2nd birthday.
• It has been three months since the devastating incident happened.
• The heartbroken dad paid tribute to his baby girl in a touching way, ensuring her memory will live on forever.

NFL star Shaquil “Shaq” Barrett, who plays as an outside linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, married his high school sweetheart, Jordanna Barrett, when the two were just teenagers. Having no formal white wedding for the first time, they got married in a courtroom on February 2, 2012. At the time, he was a sophomore at Colorado State University, and she was already nine months pregnant with their first child when they embarked on the next step of their lives together.

According to his loving wife, outside of being a phenomenal football player, Shaquil is a devoted and doting father who places their four kids, Shaquil Jr, Braylon, Aaliyah, and Arrayah Barrett, above everything else. Their children, who are his pride and joy, make up the composite of who he is as a person.

Jordanna found out she was pregnant with their firstborn son, Shaquil Jr., soon after her then-fiancé got the news that the University of Nebraska at Omaha would be ending its football program in 2011. She had recently graduated from high school, and he had just completed his freshman round with the Mavericks when he decided to carry out his dream at Colorado State, and Jordanna went along with him.

They lived very busy lives and had hectic schedules: Jordanna worked as a nanny from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and would only get a few hours of downtime at home and occasionally get to see her husband for one hour after his school day and football practice sessions would be over. Jordanna also worked at Taco John’s as a manager and would finish her shift at 1 a.m. and would only have a few hours of sleep before waking up for night feedings and starting her work day all over again.

Though he was primarily busy with school and advancing his football career, Shaquil would find the odd work shift here and there whenever he could. Additionally, in an effort to help lessen the load his wife was carrying, he would insist on helping her out with their children, specifically Shaquil Jr and Braylon, who were the only kids born around that time.

After some time, they received help from friends. Bernard Blake, a former CSU cornerback, and his brother Eric Blake assisted Jordanna with babysitting, which freed her up to work in the mornings and go on the occasional date with her husband. Though their life back then was far from smooth sailing, they expressed having no regrets about the life they chose.

One Sunday morning around 9:30 a.m. in May this year, the Barrett family experienced a devastating incident. The youngest of the family, baby Arrayah, tragically drowned in their pool at home when she was just two years old.

Upon receiving a call that a child accidentally fell into a pool, authorities arrived at the scene. Baby Arrayah was transported to a local hospital where medical personnel performed all life-saving measures possible before she was sadly pronounced dead.

Though the Barrett family has been enduring one of the most devastating losses in life when they lost their beloved youngest baby, Jordanna recently announced some happy news.

Regarding how the tragedy took place, authorities said that the investigation was still ongoing. They stated:

“It is not believed to be suspicious in nature at this time, but a purely accidental and tragic incident.”

To add insult to injury, days before her death, the Barrett family had just celebrated Arrayah’s second birthday on April 19. On the special day, her loving father took to Instagram to post a heartwarming tribute to her. In the post, an adorable Arrayah was seen rocking a pink tutu, and accompanying the cute photo was an endearing message from her dad:

“Happy 2nd bday to my cutie girl. So sweet and cute. You made our family complete, [and] I love you, baby girl.”

In commemoration of his beloved little girl’s life that was tragically lost, doting dad Shaquil paid a touching tribute to Arrayah three months following the tragedy by getting a tattoo of her adorably beautiful face on the inside of his forearm. The reference for the tattoo was the cute picture he had posted of her in her pink tutu on her birthday earlier this year, and the tattoo included some stars and clouds that framed her face.

The artwork was done by Tattoo Red, a famous tattoo artist who has been in business for 14 years and is known for tattooing an array of musicians and athletes. Red expressed his gratitude and humility for the Barrett family having chosen him to craft such a sentimental and personal piece, which came out incredibly well done.

Last month, the NFL linebacker posted an array of images and videos of his late baby girl and spoke about how much he and his family severely miss her. The tearjerking caption that went along with the carousel of media was as follows:

“I miss you, baby girl. I’m so glad we had the time that we had together, and wish we had more. I love you forever; you were everything and more for our family.”

Though the Barrett family has been enduring one of the most devastating losses in life when they lost their beloved youngest baby, Jordanna recently announced some happy news. The matriarch of the family revealed that she and her doting husband, Shaquil, are expecting another baby soon.

They all miss Arrayah deeply every day, but Jordanna believes that she will be a great big sister watching over her little sister, who will be named Allanah, as her guardian angel. Condolences continue to be sent to the bereaved family.