Family, friends gather to remember late Lynn teen

LYNN – Pink balloons drifted into the blue skies at Keaney Park Wednesday afternoon.Not signs of a celebration, the balloons were rather somber symbols of the one-year anniversary of Lynn teenager Hayley Blowers? suicide.?We have had a lot of up-&-downs this year. I guess we are trying to laugh through our tears,” Blowers? aunt Leslie Blake said.A group of Blowers? family and friends gathered to remember the teenager and sent pink balloons with personal messages into the air. Some read simply, “Hayley, I miss you,” while others were more heart-wrenching like, “Hayley, I want you to come back.”Click for a photo gallery.?For the family, it allows us to send messages to heaven,” Blake said.Friends described Blowers as a vibrant and bubbly teenager.?She was always smiling. She never stopped talking,” Tori Coots said. Coots grew up with Blowers in Lynn. Blowers went to Lynn Tech her freshman year but then moved to Maine.?She was one of the sweetest people I?ve ever met,” Becky Coots said about her childhood friend.The year has understandably been a tough one for those who knew and loved Blowers.?A day doesn?t go by when I don?t think about her or that day,” Blake said as tears glide down her cheek.Blowers cousin, Ashley Blake, considered Blowers “like a sister.” When asked what she misses most about her cousin she simply answers “everything.”Blowers family and friends channeled their grief by forming the Hayley?s Hope Foundation. The foundation?s mission to create awareness of the issue of teenage suicide and educate about the warning signs, triggers and its impact on family and the community.?Being busy with the foundation has helped me not dwell on it,” Blake said.Blake?s daughter agreed.?We have been distracted so we don?t have as much time to think about it,” Ashley Blake said.Many believe that Blowers would be delighted with the work the foundation is doing.?She would be so proud of her family,” Tori Coots said. “They are a very strong family.”It also helps that they are preventing other teens from committing suicide like Blowers.?Knowing we are helping families not go through what we went through means a lot to me,” Blake said.For others, the loss of Blowers has taught them valuable life lessons.?I treasure life a lot more since she has been gone. It can be too short sometimes,” Becky Coots said.Blowers? aunt Kristin Melendez thanked the intimate crowd for their support while playing The Band Perry?s “If I Die Young.”?When this song came out, it really hit home. Thank you all so much for helping my family through this,” Melendez said as she pushed through the tears.?Our lives have changed forever. There is a hole in the fabric of our lives that can never be patched,” Blake told gatherers.It was an especially windy day as it was hard for some to hold onto their pink balloons.?I think it?s Hayley teasing us,” Blake said. “She wants her balloons.”Knowing they are not the only family dealing with a similar tragedy, Ashley Blake offered some advice.?A lot of people are going to tell you that you will get through this. It may seem like you won?t but you have to trust them that you will,” she said.Sara Brown can be reached at [email protected].