A Minnesota mother is advocating for suicide prevention in honor of her daughter. Here's how.
A Minnesota mother is on a mission to save lives and spare other families from a painful tragedy. MJ Weiss Blair lost her daughter, 29-year-old Kayla Gaebel, to suicide nearly two years ago.
May 27 brought an emotional pen to paper ceremony at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.
"The Kayla's Hope Act will be her voice across Minnesota," said Weiss Blair, who added that she misses Gaebel's voice and laughter.
Since Gaebel passed in 2023, Weiss Blair has been advocating with the local organization Suicide Awareness Voices of Education to help fix the public health issue, getting one bill signed at the Capitol in June 2025:
"That was able to secure $8 million to place permanent prevention barriers on the bridge that took Kayla's life," said Weiss Blair.
Another bill, expanding on that cause, was signed into law in May, passing the Minnesota House unanimously and the Senate 63-4.
"This impacts all the bridges that are getting built in Minnesota. This affects how architects will have to design their bridges," said Weiss Blair.
The organization says the most crucial part about the recently signed legislation is that there was no previous enforcement from the Minnesota Department of Transportation that said the state needed to analyze its bridges for suicide prevention measures. Now, it must.
Weiss Blair says she thinks Gaebel was in the room when Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill last month, and that it couldn't have been done without the support of the organization.
When WCCO asked why she thinks it's important to keep going, Weiss Blair said, "Because Kayla would keep going."
She now plans to advocate on a federal level, using Kayla's Hope Act as an example to all the states.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.
In addition, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text "HelpLine" to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.
