Tragedies
When you hear that someone you know has been in a car accident, the first thing that comes to mind is, "Is everyone okay?" And your heart and thoughts are racing until you get an answer to that question.
A car accident can break any family into pieces. But for two families, one car accident would forever interweave their fates, leaving gaping wounds in their hearts as a consequence.
High School Students
It was the 20th of April in 2006. Whitney Cerak and Laura Van Ryn were working at a school event along with four other classmates and a staff member.
The two young women didn't know one other well, but they were overjoyed to be working together. But on their ride home, something horrible was going to happen which would change the course of life for these two.
Car Accident
The students boarded the school bus and were on their way home when tragedy struck. A semi-truck drove into the wrong lane and collided with the van.
When first responders arrived on the scene, it was discovered that there was only one survivor. Who exactly survived the incident would be a mystery for the next five weeks.
Survival
A medic fastened an ID card with the name Laura Van Ryn to the only surviving victim during the mayhem of the crash. Her face was wrapped soon after, and she was brought to the hospital with severe head and face wounds.
Van Ryn's family was informed that their daughter had survived, leaving the Cerak family with the heartbreaking realisation that Whitney will never return home. Or so they thought.
Casualties
Whitney's sister raced to the hospital after learning of her sister's death. When she arrived, what she thought was her sister's body was wrapped up on a gurney right next to her, and she couldn't stomach looking at it.
"I was too emotional to have to see the body. So they just brought me back to a separate room and gave me her purse." Laura's possessions were also returned to her family, but one critical element that they overlooked was actually a warning sign that something wasn't right.
Possession
Laura's purse was sent to the Van Ryn family, but there was something they didn't recognise. "Didn’t recognize the shoes, but we always borrow clothes and share clothes. And so we thought, ‘Oh, she must have been wearing someone else’s shoes."
They had no way of knowing what was going on, and no one can blame them—teenagers, especially girls, swap clothes all the time. What they did see that day, though, would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Prayer Journal
Entering the room they saw their daughter wrapped in gauges and attached to machines with tubes. Swelling, cuts, and bruises everywhere.
Lisa, Laura's mother, started a prayer journal for her daughter. She had no idea that her prayers would help another young woman heal in the months to come.
Mourning
The Van Ryn family gathered around what they thought was their daughter, praying that she would survive and recover completely. The Cerak family was faced with the difficulty of preparing a funeral while the lone survivor lay in a coma.
Friends and relatives shared silly memories of Whitney and rejoiced in her loving memory as the service began. Nonetheless, the family was crushed. They mourned their daughter for five weeks until an unexpected fact was revealed.
A Mother's Account
Colleen describes how it felt to hear about the death of her child, "They had like the big projector screen. And they would flash the names of the different victims that had died. And then it just — everybody in there was just praying for that person on the screen.
And — sorry I keep crying. I just remember the first time that — they put Whitney’s name up there." But, not long after this knowledge became public, she received news that would change everything.
Her Name
The only survivor who was now in a coma finally woke up. She had gotten better enough to move her hands and talk a little bit. She was in a rehabilitation centre now.
There the physical therapists started asking questions that were posed to Laura, to which the woman answered, "No, it's Whitney." This revelation came as a very big shock to everyone.
Realization
Van Ryn's family was devastated. The girl on the bed wasn't their child, Laura. No, it was Whitney. The realization hit them like a truck. Knocking the breath out of them.
Their Laura didn't survive the accident after all. For five weeks, the family believed they were nursing their daughter back to health only to find out their daughter had died long ago.
Expert's View
Richard J. McNally, a Harvard University professor of psychiatry who specialises in trauma, said he had never heard of a case quite like this one, though he understood how it could happen. "The family members, they're being told by the authorities that it is in fact their daughter," Professor McNally said.
"The person in the hospital is rather badly banged up and bruised, and they might conceivably accept that verdict from the authorities."
The Unfortunate Mixup.
To make matters worse, the young women resembled each other eerily. They were both blond, about the same height and build, and shared similar facial features.
With bandaged face and swelling all over, it was pretty hard to tell apart anyway. Nonetheless, this didn't change the way how Van Ryn's family treated Whitney.
Nothing Changed
"The Van Ryns, they loved me like I was their daughter because they believed that I was their daughter," Cerak said when interviewed 10 years after the incident.
"And even after I wrote ‘Whitney’ and their world changed and they knew that I wasn’t their daughter, they still treated me like I was their family," she continued.
Survivor's Guilt
The news reached the Cerak family and it was brought a whole lot of emotions with it. Initially, they thought that it was a joke. And who could blame them? Only a couple of days had passed since they had a funeral for their daughter.
Only if an autopsy was done this mix-up wouldn't have happened. Although Whitney survived the accident she will live with tremendous survivor's guilt for years to come.