Mother of 5 needs help after 9-year-old son drowns

DETROIT (WJBK) - A mom took her kids to a hotel pool to escape the heat when tragedy happened. 

Her 9-year-old son drowned - and now she's asking for help getting through this devastating time. 

“I have five kids, he was my baby,” said Jewell Banks.

One look at the smile on face of 9-year old Jason Banks and it’s easy to see why his mom would want to keep him smiling. 

“I kept a small pool at home, I couldn’t afford a giant pool," Banks said. "He was a happy kid.”

So on August 30, the mother of five from Detroit scraped together what she could and booked two nights at the Warren Days Inn because they had a pool. 

“He was jumping up and down in the pool having a good time,” she said

She was on the side, holding her grandchild. 

“For a quick second I looked down at the baby," Banks said.

That was all it took. 

Around the perimeter of the pool it is three feet deep, but in the middle it is five feet. Banks says her son was just bobbing from the shallow end getting gradually deeper and before she knew it, he was in over his head.

She can't swim so as soon as she got in, panic took hold. 

“I said hold me, because I thought I was going to drown too," she said. "And I had to kick his body to the edge of the pool. And I’m still screaming for help.”

Eventually they did get Jason out. 

"I never did CPR in my life," she said. "I put my hands on him and I was doing CPR and blowing through him and he is throwing up a lot. Police and everybody showed up.”

He was rushed to the hospital. By the time doctors allowed her in to see him ... "If he hears my voice, maybe he will come back," she said. "He didn’t come back.”

Banks says the guilt consumes her. 

“I feel like I wasted so much time begging for help.”

But once again she finds herself in need. 

“I need some type of way to bury my son. please," Banks said. "I just need help, please.”

The family can't afford a payment plan, so a GoFundMe page has been set up to pay for the funeral expenses. CLICK HERE to donate.

“It would put us all at peace and know that he is rested,” she said.