Father, daughter killed in plane crash-landing honored

VENICE (FOX 13) - The lives of a father and daughter were honored in unique way Friday, nearly two years after they were killed in a freak accident when they were hit by a plane as it crash-landed on a beach in Venice.

Rebecca Irizarry and her daughter, Ava received floral portraits of their loved ones during a ceremony at John's Hopkins All Children's Hospital. The same "floragraphs," as they're known, were featured on a Donate Life float during the Rose Bowl parade in January.

On July 27, 2014 Rebecca and her husband, Ommy, were celebrating their ninth anniversary on Caspersen Beach. Ommy and the couple's other daughter, Oceana, were taking a walk when they were hit and killed by a crash-landing plane.

"The way that we lived our life as a family, we just enjoyed it. We had so many adventures. We were so happy," Rebecca said following the ceremony Friday.

Although she was still in shock, Rebecca immediately decided to donate her loved ones' organs and tissues.

She knows Oceana's liver helped save the life of a 7-year-old boy and there may be other recipients who have also been helped by the donations.

"It just makes me so happy that we were able to help him and there's other families that they've [helped] through their gift," Rebecca said.

Although Ava is also just 7-years-old, the profound impact her father and sister have had in their deaths is not lost on her.

"I like to help people a lot and it makes me happy to know that my sister was helping people," Ava said.

LifeLink is the organization that helped make the transplants, and many others, possible. There are more than 121,000 people in the U.S. who need organ transplants, including more than 5,000 in Florida.