Jennifer Eve Kassoff came into the world determined to do things her own way. She arrived seven weeks early and it was very clear from that moment on that she was in charge of her own destiny.

Jennifer was a loving, happy child who was bright beyond her years. In her early grades of school, she scored perfect grades on her city-wide testing. She was always the "leader of the pack" so to speak. She had the greatest sense of humor which kept everyone laughing. She completed Northeast High School in 1998 and won a scholarship to college.

Instead of going to school, she wanted to wait and go into the workplace. Right before her 19th birthday, she told me that she was addicted to heroin. This began a three and a half year roller coaster ride of recovery and relapsing. Jennifer certainly tried to recover, but in time, the heroin was just too powerful. She died three months after her 22nd birthday.

At her funeral, there were dozens of women from her rehabs that attested to how Jennifer saved their lives through the recovery network. She was a loving, caring, giving person who was lost to the power of addiction.

She will forever live in the hearts of her father and me as well as her brother, Jason. She is out of danger from the terrible life that addiction brings to all of its victims. My heart is broken from the loss of my beautiful daughter.

UPDATE, December 2, 2005:
Today, I attended the funeral of Jennifer's brother, Jason, who passed away at the age of 23. He was Bonnie's sole surviving child. He was NOT a drug user, but had waged a life-long struggle with a rare disease he'd been born with. What a tragedy. If Bonnie survives this, she will become my role model.