Tragic Accident Killed Their Daughter. 5 Weeks After Her Funeral They Find Out She Is Alive

On April 26, 2006, a Taylor University van was transporting students and staff back to campus after they finished setting up a luncheon in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The van was only about 15 miles from the school when a semi truck flew across the median and slammed into them head on.

Of the nine passengers in the van, four university students and a staff member were killed in the crash.

By the time families began arriving at the hospital, they were told students Brad Larson, Laurel Erb, Betsy Smith and Whitney Cerak, as well as staff member Monica Felver, had died.

Another student in the van, who was identified as Laura Van Ryn at the scene of the accident, lay unconscious in the hospital. Her family was told that she might look and talk different due to severe brain injury.

In the following days, nearly 1,400 Taylor University students attended the funeral of Whitney Cerak as her family mourned the loss of their chiId.

In the following weeks, the Van Ryn family noticed that Laura was not acting herself, and even though they were warned of the possible changes, they couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong. Further dental records confirmed their fears.

The Van Ryn and Cerak families were shocked to discover that their daughters had been mistaken for one another, and that it was Whitney, not Laura, who had survived the accident.

“We have some hard news to share with you today,” the Van Ryns wrote in a blog post. “Our hearts are aching as we have learned that the young woman we have been taking care of over the past five weeks has not been our dear Laura, but instead a fellow Taylor student of hers, Whitney E. Cerak.”

Whitney’s sister Carly explained the heartbreak of the situation in another post. “Soon after we saw Whitney, our family met with the Van Ryns and our joy for ourselves was pushed aside by the pain we felt for them. It is hard because our joy is their pain,” she wrote.

Decade after the deadly accident Whitney spoke at a school prayer and opened up about the blessings and struggles of her unique story.

h/t: liftable