Friends and family of Allana Staiano prepare for her memorial service

On Friday, a heartbroken family will lay their 14-year-old daughter to rest after she was killed in a hit-and-run crash, in Suncoast Estates.

For days now, Christine Gray, Allana’s mom, has been getting ready for what no mother should ever have to—her daughter’s funeral.

The family has been sorting through thousands of pictures of Allana and picking their favorites to show Friday night.

“When she walked into a room it didn’t matter what was going on in the room, everything stopped and everybody…it was smiles, it was laughs, it was just happiness,” Gray said.

While this is her worst nightmare, Gray said the outpouring of support form the community is making it just a tiny bit easier, in particular, the memorial off McDaniels Drive which is growing by the day.

“The community has been overwhelming,” said Allana’s grandmother. She’s thankful the community has shown so much love to her family, but she’s not ready to accept that her little princess is gone.

“I’m not ready to talk about her,” she said. “Yeah, it’s still kind of a bit of a…we’ve been trying to, but it was so fast, there’s no way to prepare for that,” Gray said.

Courtney Gainey is the accused killer. The sheriff’s office says she just kept on going. Witnesses say she drove fast, was reckless and hit Allana and her friend, Taylor Smith,  before speeding off.

Gray hopes Gainey sees exactly what she did.

“I hope everybody can see that just beyond right there, you see the yellow marks? My daughter was actually hit somewhere down in that area and thrown all the way to here,” Gray said. “That’s damage. That’s speeding. That’s felony driving. ”

As hard as it is to talk about, they’re trying their best to keep her memory alive.

Allana’s mom and her grandmother said Thursday that Allana had a love for hair, makeup and fashion; passions that she hoped to pursue in cosmetology school.

“She had just told me the night before, she was like, ‘I figured it out! I’m going to college. and I love hair and makeup and fashion! So I’m going to cosmetology school,” and then the next day this happens and I’m like, all of that is gone,” Gray said.

The visitation for the service will start on Friday at 5 p.m. at the Fort Myers Memorial Gardens with the celebration of life set to start at 6 p.m.

Anyone who knew Allana is allowed to speak.

Allana’s twin brother is asking her friends to bring items and mementos that symbolize their friendship with Allana to the service so they can be by her side as she is laid to rest.

Gray said she wants this open to the public so everyone can see just how amazing her daughter was.