A North Carolina softball family is honoring one of their own, focusing on suicide prevention
After the death of a Harnett County teenager, the softball community in Eastern North Carolina remembers her through stickers and fighting the stigma around mental health.
Posted — UpdatedTeams normally exchange lineup cards before a softball game, but this evening North Johnston High School and Spring Creek High School are taking the time to trade something else, something different.
A sticker.
"It’s just been really like tight-knit. Everybody is like family, especially when you’re playing this sport," Spring Creek senior Jasmine Valentine said.
Over the course of their careers, softball players will often play for multiple teams – a high school team and a travel team, for example. Each person meets a lot of different players, a lot of different families. It's a web of relationships as complex as the webbing on a softball glove. It made the news out of Harnett County all the more devastating in February.
David said Aubrey was raised on the diamond.
"It’s really hard to be honest with you, me and my wife, we just take it day by day, especially (with Aubrey) being the baby."
"We just want to try to help kids with that, help parents not have to deal with what we’re having to deal with right now," Horne said.
In the months since her death, the Horne family has tried their best to make change, bringing awareness for suicide prevention,for mental health services, especially involving young people, and to remove any kind of stigma around depression and anxiety.
"Since all of this has happened with my daughter, I've started to experience some things that I haven't experienced before and even as an adult it's scary," Horne said. "Sometimes it's uncontrollable, so unless you deal with it, you don't really know what a person is dealing with."
A local softball league, SE Top Gun Softball, held a tournament in Aubrey's name in March and plans to continue the tradition each year. The Horne family is creating the Aubrey Genesis Foundation, with hopes of one day opening up a center in Dunn for those in need to spend time, similar to a YMCA.
"We’ve just got a great, knit ball community, whether it’s North Johnston High School or Spring Creek High School," Scott said.
"It’s family, just as simple as that, it’s really family," Horne said.
The players getting the stickers for North Johnston immediately put them on the side of their helmets. It's the Horne family's hope that they'll serve as a reminder for those in need.
"You never know what’s going on with somebody," Valentine said. "Just check on the people you love, enjoy this game and the time that we have here."
"That’s what we have left, and that’s (why) I want to keep her name alive, her passion alive," Horne said.
Veterans can press “1” after dialing 988 to connect directly to the Veterans Crisis Lifeline. For texts, veterans should continue to text the Veterans Crisis Lifeline short code: 838255.
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