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Vanessa Bryant , widow of basketball star Kobe Bryant and mother of Gianna , said Monday that her brain " refuses to accept " that her loved ones died in a fatal helicopter crash in late January.

"I have been reluctant to express my feelings with words. My brain refuses to accept that both Kobe and Gigi are gone. I can't process both at the same time," he lamented in his Instagram account.

At the time of the collision, Kobe Bryant, 41, was traveling with his daughter Gianna, 13, and seven other people aboard a helicopter, which he used regularly to avoid the well-known Los Angeles traffic.

The Orange Coast University baseball coach, John Altobelli, also died; his wife Keri and his daughter, Alyssa, who played on the same team as Gianna; a basketball coach, Christina Mauser; another teammate and her mother, Payton and Sarah Chester, and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.

"It's like I'm trying to process Kobe's disappearance, but my body refuses to accept that my Gigi will never come back to me . Why should I wake up another day when my baby can't have that opportunity?" However, Vanessa Bryant argued that she needs to "be strong" to get on with her other three daughters, Natalia, Bianka and Capri .

A public memorial will be held on February 24 in memory of the former basketball player, his daughter, and the other deceased, at the Staples Center , the Los Angeles Lakers court.

The date, 2/24/20, contains a special symbolism for the Bryant family, since the two is the number that Gianna carried, the 24 is the one that Kobe Bryant led much of his career, and the 20 is the number of seasons he played in Los Angeles Lakers.

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