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SYRACUSE — In just over a week, 15-year-old Marli Hamblin should have been starting her first year at Syracuse High School. Instead, her friends gathered at a fundraiser Saturday to raise money for her family and remember a life cut short by tragedy.
On Aug. 8, Marli was listening to her iPod and sunbathing in the driveway of her Syracuse home when a family member backed over her with a pickup truck. She was flown to the hospital, where she died two days later.
“It’s been really hard to know that she’s gone,” said Summer Cagle, one of Marli’s friends.
Cagle was among hundreds of people who gathered at Founders Park Saturday evening — friends leaning on each other during a difficult time.
“It helps a lot to be with all your friends,” said Keyera Taylor, another of Marli’s friends.
Marli was going to be a cheerleader at Syracuse High School, and her would-be cheerleader teammates organized the fundraiser to honor their friend and let her family know how much they care.
“We consider ourselves a family, a cheer family, and when one of them is gone it leaves a hole in our hearts,” said Stefanie Bowen, cheerleader coach at Syracuse High.
When Marli was in the hospital, her friends asked for a miracle, hoping Marli would recover. They also set up donation accounts to help fund the hospital bills her family was incurring.
“Once her family decided for Marli to be an organ donor, it turned into Marli’s miracles for other kids,” said Denise Taylor, a Hamblin family friend.
Friends began selling shirts with the words “Marli's Miracles” embossed on the front, as well as balloons in her favorite color. Saturday evening, those balloons filled the sky above the Davis County park as their owners released them in tribute to Marli's memory.
“It’s just the way the girls (wanted) to celebrate Marli, letting them go for her,” Taylor said.
All the money raised will go to the Hamblin family.
