The Hardest Work I Have Ever Done

No matter how I try to brace myself, the pain of facing the holidays without my youngest daughter is crushing. Elly would be turning twenty-eight on December 13th. The reality that she is gone still lies upon my heart like a heavy blanket. The dates hit like bullets: Thanksgiving, Ellys birthday, Christmas, New Years, and the anniversary of the crash on February 12th.

Its supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. The twinkling lights, music, and smells all evoke memories. Remember how it used to feel?

Ellys 24th Birthday Party: Connor was with his mom Laura (Ellys sister) at the airport on February 12, 2009 waiting with balloons to welcome his Aunt Elly home.

One of the Kausner family traditions is to pile the whole family into trucks and vans with plenty of hot chocolate and head for the hills of Western New York in search of the perfect Christmas tree. For our family, this day is mandatory and sacrosanct.

The first year after the crash, the family decided the show must go on. But I hid in my bedroom until they left and sobbed until they returned. The tree sat in the driveway for a week.Four years in, its still the hardest work I have ever done or will do. My best friend who lost her son in a motorcycle accident told me she had to live her life well so that he wont look down from heaven feeling guilty that his death ruined her. That is some good motivation. For me, it translates into investing what I can into those I still have.

Marilyn Kausner lost her daughter Ellyce, 24, on Continental Flight 3407

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Families We Have Helped:

Below are some of the air disasters that we have responded to:
Private Plane - 9/26/12
Rockingham County, VA
Private Plane - 2/27/11
Abu Dhabi
Private Plane - 12/22/10
Barrington, NY
Private Plane - 7/17/10
South Portland, ME
Air India Express 812 - 5/22/10
Mangalore, India
Afriqiyah Airways 8U771- 5/12/10
Tripoli, Libya
Ethiopian Airlines 409 - 1/25/10
Off of Na'ameh, Lebanon
Air France Flight 447 - 6/1/09
Atlantic Ocean
Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 - 2/25/09
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Continental Flight 3407 - 2/12/09
Clarence Center, NY
US Airways Flight 1549 - 1/15/09
Hudson River, NY
Aeroflot Flight 821 - 9/14/08
Perm, Russia
Spanair JK 5022 - 8/20/08
Madrid, Spain
TAM Airways JJ 3054 - 7/17/07
São Paulo, Brazil
Comair Flight 5191 - 8/27/06
Lexington, KY
Airbus A320-211 - 5/3/06
Off Sochi, Russia
Bellview Airlines - 10/23/05
Nigeria
West Caribbean Airways 708 - 8/16/05
Machiques, Venezuela
Air France Flight 358 - 8/2/05
Ontario, Canada
Kam Air Flight 904 - 2/3/05
Pamir Mountains, Afghanistan
Corporate Airlines 5966 - 10/19/04
Pettis Township, MO
Kish Airlines Flight 1770 - 2/10/04
United Arab Emirates
Georgian Express Flight 126 - 1/17/04
Ontario, Canada
Flash Airlines 604 - 1/3/04

Red Sea

Turkish Airlines 634 - 1/8/03

Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey

US Airways Express/Air Midwest Flight 5481 - 1/8/03

Charlotte, NC

American Flight 587 - 11/12/01

Queens, NY

The events of September 11, 2001

Private Plane - 12/3/00
Milltown, WI
Singapore Airlines 006 - 10/31/00

Chiang Kai-shek Internat'l Airport

Gulf Air Bus A320 - 8/23/00

Persian Gulf, Bahrain

Air France Concorde 4590 - 7/25/00

Gonesse, France

Alaska Airlines 261 - 1/31/00

Pacific Ocean

Egypt Air 990 - 10/31/99

Atlantic Ocean

American Airlines 1420 - 6/1/99

Little Rock, AR

Swissair 111 - 9/2/98

Atlantic Ocean

Private Plane - 8/4/98
Phillips, WI
TWA 800 - 7/17/96

US Air 427 9/8/94

Allegheny County, PA

Long Island, NY

Pan Am 103 - 12/21/88

Lockerbie, Scotland

TWA/United Airlines - Mid-Air Collision- 12/16/1960
Brooklyn & Staten Island, NY
and hundreds of other private, commercial and military air disasters

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