SakshiThe Mistaken Identity
So how did it all happen? Why Whitney was mistaken for Laura? The two looked a lot similar in terms of physical appearance. Both of them had golden colored hair and quite similar built. That is why even in college people would get confused between the two. No need to mention both the girls were there in the van when the accident took place. But how inspectors can do such a big mistake?
I Card Mismatched
The person who was inspecting bodies found Laura’s I card beside the body of eighteen-year-old Whitney Cerak. As Whitney and Laura, both had their faces damaged the inspector took Whitney as Laura and handed her to Ryns. Clearly, the officer confused her for Laura because of the I card.
Dream Or A Nightmare?
After a while, Ceraks ran into the hospital to see their recovering baby. She was lying on the bed waiting for her real parents. Her parents and sister broke down in tears when they saw her alive and recuperating. her mother hugged and cried profusely whereas her father thanked VanRyns for taking care of their daughter. Whitney asked her mother what exactly had happened with her. It was a strange sight where one family was wailing because they just had learned that their daughter was still alive and the other family had tears streaming down their cheek because they just had realized that they had lost their daughter to death.
Nothing Is Impossible
Newell said, “It was such an unbelievable moment for us because we were at a moment in our life when we thought this would never be a possibility.” Though it took several days for Whitney Cerak to get back to health she finally won the fight. But during the process, many things had changed for her. Her perception of life had changed. Along with all this, Whitney did not forget to thank Ryn’s for being her side at such a tragic moment. She expressed, “The Van Ryns, they loved me like I was their daughter because they believed that I was their daughter.” She continued, “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.”
A Funeral
Well, the girl got really astonished when she learned that her parents had even held a funeral for her. She reminisced what her sister told her, “My family had a funeral for me.” She went further, “A lot of people wonder what will people say about you at your funeral.” She also talked about what her sister said to the visitors, “On this very stage, my sister, Carly, told my entire campus that I didn’t shower enough,” Cerak added, smiling. “And one of my pastors back in Michigan, he told everyone who came to the funeral that I wasn’t very good at sports. So I learned all these things out. But how often you expect the person to come back and confront you about that?”
Everything Changed
Many things had changed for her. When she went to the school she found it very difficult to gel up once again. She recalled, “Coming back to school was really hard. Nothing was making sense to me. My identity before the accident was no longer. I thought I was really social and funny, I had a lot of friends. But after April 26, those things changed.”