Ryan Saldana Obituary, Jacqui Saldana mourns

On Friday morning, 3-year-old Ryan Cruz Saldana was gleefully running through Disneyland, his curly mane of flaming red hair flowing behind him.

On Friday evening, Jacqui and Dan Saldana were dealing with a tragedy no parent wants to fathom.

Ryan, of South Pasadena, was hit and killed by a truck while playing outside his cousins’ house.

On Tuesday, Saldana’s fiery locks lit up social media, as tens of thousands of friends, family and strangers posted messages of love and support on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with the now-viral hashtag #redballoonsforryan. Posts came from as far away as New York and Canada, many from bloggers, celebrities, businesses and just regular people who didn’t know Ryan or his family.

“Parents aren’t supposed to have to bury their children,” actress Sophie Bush posted on Twitter.

Alissa Circle, 34, of Orange County, started the hashtag with a post on her blog, Diary of an Addict, on Monday. She said the post went viral overnight and had so many views that her blog site crashed. She said she’s seen thousands of posts on social media from all over the world, which is exactly what she hoped for when she wrote the post.

I wanted there to be able to have a place where (Jacqui and Dan) could go and see where everyone was sharing. … It’s just so incredible,” Circle said. “When I wrote that, I was hoping that somebody would see it, anybody would see it, and would post a picture. I literally slept for five hours, and when I woke up the site was down. There were 4,000 pictures shared already on Instagram. It was just an incredible outpouring.”

Circle, who met Jacqui Saldana through Saldana’s blog Baby Boy Bakery, said she chose red balloons as a symbol for Ryan because he loved red and loved balloons, and Saldana told her she wanted to release red balloons at Ryan’s funeral.

Circle said the couple, both 29, have been touched by the support.

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