Hope emerges from the hell
BLUE balloons soar heavenwards to mark a year since Lewis Knapp was killed in a hit-and-run.
Loved ones remembered the popular lad whilst raising awareness about the dangers of drink driving.
His girlfriend Caitlyn Hardy opened her heart as she spoke about the love of her life who she will never forget.
“I think about him every day,” said Caitlyn, 19, of the Scotch Estate, Jarwrow. “I had a ring made out of some of his ashes and I wear it on my engagement finger because we would have been engaged by now, but that didn’t happen.
“I didn’t even have time to say goodbye, he died instantly from what the court called catastrophic and unsurvivable injuries.
“But today is about us all getting together and remembering him by releasing over 100 blue balloons into the sky.”
Twenty-year-old Lewis had been on a night out with Caitlyn and friends on Good Friday last year in South Shields when tragedy struck.
He was catapulted over the car after being struck on Anderson Street in the town in the early hours of April 15, and died by the time Caitlyn ran to him.
“I wanted all the balloons to be the same colour so when they float across the sky everyone will know it’s for Lewis,” added office administrator Caitlyn.
Killer driver Connor Emms was driving more than double the 30mph speed limit and under the influence of a cocktail of cocaine and vodka when he hit Lewis and fled the scene.
The 20-year-old was jailed for fourand-a-half-years and disqualified from driving for three years at his sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court.
After Lewis’s death, a memorial garden was created on the field behind the Flat Tops pub in Boldon Colliery – as that was where he would hang out with his pals when he was growing up. And it was there yesterday’s balloon release took place.
His mum Michelle Norton, 46, said: “He was my only child, he was very special, we were more like friends, we did everything together.
“He loved Disneyland in Florida and I took him there about 10 times and Caitlyn, me and Lewis’s cousin Anabelle Brand are taking some of his ashes over there later in the years so we can scatter them in the Magic Kingdom.
“He just loved Disneyland, it was his favourite place and it holds many happy memories, so we are really looking forward to going there.”
Michelle will also be helping with a charity night for Road Peace North East on April 21 at South Shields’ Hedworth Hall, as she continues to work to raise awareness of the dangers of drink driving in her son’s memory. Family and friends of Lewis, and inset, Lewis with girlfriend Caitlyn Hardy