Just four days before his unexpected passing, retired professional hockey player, turned podcast host, Jimmy Hayes, his wife, Kristen, and their two young sons took professional photos. Professional family photos are a pretty routine yearly reoccurrence especially for young families, like the Hayes, who are still growing.
However, Kristen couldn’t have imagined just how important those professional family photos would end up being to their family. On August 23, just one day after celebrating their oldest son’s 2nd birthday, Jimmy passed away.
Jimmy Hayes’ cause of death is still unknown. He was just 31 years old. According to The Boston Globe, Hayes was pronounced dead at his home.
“My angel. I love you so much. I miss you,” Kristen said in her initial statement. “I don’t know how I’m going to do life without you. You should be here. This isn’t fair.”
As Hayes and Kristen’s social media accounts revealed, they had a blast celebrating Beau’s birthday. And only three months ago, they welcomed their second child into the world, another son they named Mac.
But it was only yesterday that Kristen revealed the photoshoot they had just four days before Jimmy’s passing. “On Wednesday we took family photos,” Kristen wrote alongside a preview of that photoshoot.
“Little did I know they would be our last photos of a family of four. I have no words. I’m heartbroken. We miss you. We love you. You should be here.”
You can scroll through the preview of Kristen and Jimmy Hayes’ family photos here:
As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Kristen was able to also save their last days together in a highlight reel on her Instagram profile. The photos and videos show them simply enjoying time together as a family, celebrating their boy turning another year old, and jumping on trampolines as Beau tells his dad, “This is SO fun!”
“Not sure who’s having more fun, mom, dad, or beau,” Kristen quipped in one of the photos.
And in the last couple of days, Kristen has shared a few tributes to her Instagram highlight titled, “My angel.” The tributes speak volumes of the person Jimmy was.
As one person said, Jimmy Hayes was a “ray of sunshine” for so many. And it is obvious through the photo his wife has shared of him, he was just that and so much more to his own family as well.
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