Pass array by reference to Laravel Event Listener

I have an array in Laravel applications that I would like to modify in Laravel listener. PHP by default passes an array by reference however, the way Laravel events and its listeners work I am unable to modify the original variable. Is there a better way than what I am doing below?

The Model where the event is fired from.

Model: Event.php

namespace Vendor\Package\Models

use Vendor\Package\Events\PageNodeArrayAfter;
use Event;

class Page
{
   public function toArray()
   {
      $data = []; 

      // do something with the data. 

      Event::fire(new PageNodeToArrayAfter($data))

      // The data should be modified by a listener when I use it here.
   }
}

Event: PageNodeToArrayAfter.php

namespace Vendor\Package\Events;

class PageNodeToArrayAfter
{
    /**
     * Props to be sent to the view
     * @var array $data
     */
    protected $data = [];

    /**
     * @param array $data
     * 
     */
    public function __construct(array &$data)
    {
        $this->data = $data;
    }

    public function getData()
    {
        return $this->data;
    }
}

Listener: FlashMessagesListner.php

namespace Vendor\Package\Listeners;

class FlashMessagesListner
{
    protected $data = [];

    public function handle(PageNodeToArrayAfter $event)
    {
       $this->data = $event->getData();
       // The problem here is the $data is no logner a reference here. 
    }
}

via Chebli Mohamed