LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)– One mother is helping others through grief, as she grieves the loss of her daughter who died in a Lafayette plane crash nearly six years ago.

“Only Rainbows, The Carley McCord Story” is not just a story about Louisiana sports journalist Carley McCord Ensminger, it’s a story written for those experiencing a loss.

Karen McCord, Carley’s mother, details Carley’s life in the book. McCord said she got the idea to write it on the day Carley died.

“At that moment, I just knew,” McCord said. “I could just actually feel God nudging me to say that, ‘You’re going to write another book, and that this book is going to be about Carley and about grief. And you’re going to have to go through the grief to explain it to people and help people get through their grief.'”

That grief began when with a devastating phone call in the grocery store.

“I got a phone call from one of Carley’s bridesmaids,” McCord said. “And she said, ‘Is it true?’ And I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘The plane crash.’ And then she hung up.”

McCord continued, “And then she called back and she said, ‘Look, there’s been a plane crash in Lafayette, Louisiana. You know, five people have been reported dead. But there was another person that was alive.’ I was keeping my fingers crossed, praying to God that maybe it was Carley.”

That prayer wasn’t answered. Her daughter, Carley McCord Ensminger, was one of five people who died in the Lafayette plane crash. However, McCord still clings to her faith to carry her through her grief journey.

McCord said when meeting with her grief counselor, she was asked if she could change any day of her life.

“I said, ‘It would be December 28th, 2019,'” McCord said.

That was the day Carley was headed to Atlanta to cover the LSU Football team and support her father-in-law as he coached the tigers in the Peach Bowl.

“And she said, ‘What would you do differently?’ And I said, ‘Well, I would try, I would have driven to her car, I mean, to her home, slashed her tires, you know, destroyed her car, so she couldn’t get there,'” McCord said. “‘And if she did find a way to get there, I would have hung on the wings of the plane and stopped it from happening or stopped it from going.'”

McCord continued, “And she said, ‘Oh, so you would have played God?’ And I said, ‘No. You asked me what I would have done.’ She said, ‘Don’t you think God could have done all those things? Don’t you think that God could have stopped the accident from happening? Or don’t you think that God could have stopped Carley from getting on the plane?'”

“And I said, ‘Yes,'” McCord said. “And she said, ‘You’re not God. God is God.’”

The full “Candid Conversation” with Karen McCord about Carley’s life and legacy can be streamed on demand on KLFY+.

Latest news