Monday on CNN’s “The Source,” host Kaitlan Collins fought back tears during her interview with Andy Beyer, a man who lost his wife, Juystyna and daughter Brielle, in the recent plane crash near Washington, D.C.
Partial transcript as follows:
ANDY BEYER: I mean, all I ever wanted when I was like a little kid, I remember just wanting a family to love, you know? And we were. we were living our dream. She was like the dream girl that you could ask for. You know, my son is a dream son, too. she was just the dream girl from the moment that I met her. She just kept exceeding our expectations from the time she was a baby to the time she was reading, you know, chapter books at age three to how she excelled in figure skating, made friendships. You know, better than my wife ever could. She she just was this social butterfly smiled in the smallest moments. um, just. she was a joy and a gift. we never forgot that. we soaked it all in. people will tell you, you know, make sure you. we did soak it all in, and. but you just never think like something like this could happen to you and that that it could be taken away from you.
KAITLAN COLLINS: I couldn’t believe it when I read that she overcame cancer at as just a baby at four months old.
BEYER: Yeah, I mean, that was that was hard because that was that was like waking up to a nightmare. But at least it was hope then, you know, and and we went through so many cycles of kind of like loss and then relief. You get a bad result and then there was still hope and, and, you know, and then when she finally was, you know, more or less cleared, you know, we just had this, this sense of relief. And so for this to happen after, we just didn’t think anything so bad could ever happen again. I mean, that that cancer was like, 1 in 100,000 and, you know, no plane travel is supposed to be safe. So, yeah.
COLLINS: I think a lot of people are going to be wondering just how how you can even talk about this. I mean, just to to be, you know, so in this moment of, losing Juystyna and Brielle, why is it important for you to to talk about them?
BEYER: Everyone dies, right? And they live on through our memories and I want people to have a memory of them so they live on so that’s why I wanted to share their story.
COLLINS: Thank you for doing so, Andy, and I think everyone will be really touched to hear from you so thank you, thank you for coming on to talk about that.
BEYER: Thank you for sharing their story. I could talk to you all day about them, and I know we haven’t talked about my wife, but she was the most wonderful mother. She wanted to make every moment special for the kids and she did. She gave them those magic memories, you know? Brielle too, and we thought that would sustain her into adulthood, that she’d be able to draw from them so it’s really sad she doesn’t get to do that. She deserved that. But she was my soulmate. I’m going to miss her so much.
COLLINS: You’re clearly both amazing parents, Andy, and I just want you to know that everyone is praying for you and thinking of you in this moment. I know that doesn’t help, but everyone is just really thinking of you guys in this moment so thank you for joining me.
BEYER: I just want to say one last thing if I can, which is the community and all of my close friends and family, everyone has stepped up in such a big way and it is what is keeping me going and I know I haven’t been able to reach out and thank people, but I want to thank people for that, for everything that everyone is doing for me. It has been so helpful. It’s the only thing keeping me going. They’ve been helping me with my son who has been having playdates so he can live in the moment and it’s really the thing that’s saving us right now so thank you.
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