Root beginner, can't root s5 (verizon)

[sebd42]

My phone did a factory reset because somehow my pin code wasn't recognized and I lost my last conversation with my grandma (who passed away two weeks ago) and years worth of photos and journal entries. So, I've been trying to restore that data with little success. Verizon customer service (which actually told me to try putting in the code again, causing the factory reset) has been useless. The data restoring thing I'm using requires me to root my phone, but it fails to root every time. I'm very bad with technology, but I'd do anything to get that last conversation back. I wish I'd known to back things up before this. If anyone could help me I would be very grateful.