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Parents at a Loss - David and Luisa Kennison

While cleaning the garage, Luisa Kennison breaks down as she drags Ellie's car seat to the curb. Kennison had been putting off cleaning the garage because she would have to confront her daughter's belongings and whether or not to throw them out.

Photo by GREG KAHN

While cleaning the garage, Luisa Kennison breaks down as she drags Ellie's car seat to the curb. Kennison had been putting off cleaning the garage because she would have to confront her daughter's belongings and whether or not to throw them out.

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  • Many of the rooms of the children who passed are left untouched after their death. Parents usually don't feel comfortable stepping inside the room, choosing to keep it as a memorial instead. 'I don't go into her room very often,' Janet Andersen, mother of Rylee, said. 'I feel like when I go in there I sit in the rocking chair and it's very, very difficult to get out. And so you get stuck.'
  • While cleaning the garage, Luisa Kennison breaks down as she drags Ellie's car seat to the curb. Kennison had been putting off cleaning the garage because she would have to confront her daughter's belongings and whether or not to throw them out.
  • A photograph of David Kennison and his daughter Ellie remains on the refrigerator to remind the family of happier times.
  • Luisa Kennison touches the headstone one last time after planting new flowers for Christmas at the gravesite of her daughter Ellie.
  • David and Luisa Kennison clean and plant new flowers for Christmas at the gravesite of their daughter Ellie.
  • David Kennison remains in his car after parking at his home in Fort Myers.
  • David and Lusia Kennison discuss whether or not to put up their Christmas tree at their home in Fort Myers. It was going to be their first Christmas without their daughter Ellie, who died a couple months prior.
  • Luisa Kennison begins to cry at her home in Fort Myers. The trigger was seeing a mother daughter necklace in a store earlier in the day, and then hearing the song 'Over the Rainbow' in the car on the way home.
  • David Kennison visits his daughter's grave.
  • Luisa Kennison touches her daughter's grave after decorating it for the holidays. Kennison and her husband, David, never intended to stay in Florida, but now that her daughter is buried across from their neighborhood, they can't bring themselves to move away.
  • After a lot of debating, David and Luisa Kennison hung their late daughter's stocking on the ledge with the rest of the family's decorations.
  • David Kennison, left, attempts to decorate the Christmas tree with the help of his son, James, far right, and Manuelo, James' cousin, center. It was the first Christmas since David's daughter, Ellie, died. Luisa, David's wife, couldn't bring herself to take part in any of the festivities. 'It's very stressful to me,' Luisa said. 'There's no joy. How do we even do Christmas cards? We can't put a picture together. Not all of us are here.'
  • Luisa Kennison breaks down at home, soon after hearing the song 'Over the Rainbow' while driving home from the mall. Kennison said she can be having a good week and something as simple as a song on the radio can put her back into a depression.
  • Luisa and David Kennison clean out their garage in late November 2010, where many of their daughter Ellie's belongings were still boxed up. 'It's hard, she's everywhere.' Luisa said. 'I think we've avoided this since we've moved,' David said. 'The garage just reminds us of how our life was at that time.' When they moved in early 2010, Ellie, 3, had just started to deteriorate from Rett syndrome.

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