A twist of fate

Whitney Cerack, back from the grave.  She was presumed dead in the high speed collision that killed five of her fellow passengers.  Her parents buried a woman they thought was her.  Here she was, speaking for the first time.

Matt Lauer: Now that you know what your parents went through, and your sister went through, over those five weeks, how does it make you feel?

Whitney Cerak: It makes me really sad whenever I think about that. Really sad. It's really hard for me to even imagine what they went through. But I know it must have been hard.

Matt Lauer: They had to come down to your college and clean out your dorm room. Take your belongings away. And then they had to sit in the front row of that church on the day of your funeral.

Whitney Cerak: I don't like to imagine that.

Matt Lauer: You don't like to think about it, do you?

Whitney Cerak: No. Not all the pain they went through.

She spent weeks in a coma, weeks in which she had been mistaken for another woman -- Laura Van Ryn -- and cared for by Laura’s family, who were total strangers to her. Mercifully, perhaps, Whitney says there's a big gap in her memory, starting with April 26, 2006 -- the night of the crash.

Matt Lauer: What do you remember about that day?

Whitney Cerak: About April 26? I remember working the banquet and it was really fun. And then we stopped for a pizza afterwards.

Matt Lauer: Where were you sitting in the van?

Whitney Cerak: I couldn't tell you.

Matt Lauer: No idea? And what is your first memory then after the pizza?

Whitney Cerak: The next memory I have is just like rolling over in the hospital bed and seeing my mom and just crying a lot. That's the only thing I remember probably for a week. It’s just how emotional I was.

She says the five weeks between the crash and her mother's arrival are a blur. They are mostly a blank. The weeks Laura Van Ryn’s family stayed at her bedside, believing she was their daughter, Whitney says she doesn't remember that or them at all.

Matt Lauer: When you think about it now, Whitney, and you think about the fact that here you were struggling to come out of this coma. To figure out what was going on. And as you looked up, these people standing over you were strangers.

Whitney Cerak: I don't remember what was going on, but it must have been messing with my mind. And seeing them and having them call me Laura. But I don't -- I honestly can't even wrap my mind around that.

She was struggling to reassemble her memory in those weeks, sometimes calling Laura’s sister Lisa Van Ryn, "Lisa,” and sometimes calling her "Carly" -- her own sister’s name. She called Laura’s boyfriend "Hunter," which meant nothing to the Van Ryns. It’s one mystery Whitney was able to clear up for us.

Whitney Cerak: Hunter's my dog. Yeah. I'm embarrassed to say that I talk about him that much. Everyone else that I’m really good friends with, I chose my dog? Doesn't really make sense.

Matt Lauer: Tell me about Laura. How well did you know her?

Whitney Cerak: I worked a few banquets with her. We drove up together to Fort Wayne to work the banquet. And that's almost the first time I had really talked to her.

Matt Lauer: From the little you knew about her personality-wise, did you see any similarities in the two of you?

Whitney Cerak: No...

Matt Lauer: Not really. How about physically? When you first met her. Did it ever occur to you, "Hey, we kind of look a little bit alike"?

Whitney Cerak: It never occurred to me.

Matt Lauer: Never thought about it? Now that you've heard this story, and you know what took place over those five weeks, is it hard for you to imagine how you could have been confused for someone else for that long a period of time?

Whitney Cerak: If everyone in the hospital was saying that I was their daughter, or their sister, you know, it makes sense. Why would you doubt what they're saying? And my face was, like, really swollen. So maybe they just thought I would have a different appearance after that horrible accident.

Once Whitney’s true identity was known, her struggle was far from over. Her family took some video at the rehab center. You can see how weak she was, how thin. What you can't see is what was inside.

Matt Lauer: What was the hardest part for you? The hardest thing for you to get back?

Whitney Cerak: Just my emotional state. Like, I just wasn't able to cry. And I don't know, now I am able to cry again. And that's just one thing that was, like, so huge for me. Because I wasn't able to cry over this very, very sad accident that happened.

The crash and the tragic mix-up that followed made her briefly famous. People joked with her about it. But Whitney had a different reaction.

Whitney Cerak: Well, I would just, like, cry out to God a lot. And just be, like, "Why? Why me?" Because everyone else in the accident -- they were just amazing people. And so I never really understood why I was, in a way, left behind. And I was just talking to my dad about it one day and I was, like, "Dad, I don't get this. Why me?" And he's, like, "Whitney, why not you?"

Matt Lauer: So, for five weeks back in 2006, this simply wasn't a possible picture.

Mr. Cerak: Right.

Matt Lauer: So what's it like to look over now, Newell, and see this family as one?

Mr. Cerak: Well it's a constant reminder of what happened that night. But at the same time, then, I look down this couch here and I see my family. And it just brings me tremendous joy.

Matt Lauer: Colleen ?

Mrs. Cerak: I’ll cry (laugh).

Matt Lauer: It's OK.

Mrs. Cerak: This is completeness, right here. It feels good. Just to be together like this.

For the first time, Whitney visited the cemetery where her parents buried the woman they thought was her.

Matt Lauer: You've actually listened to a tape of your funeral ceremony?

Whitney Cerak: It's true.

Matt Lauer: And now you've seen where your parents buried you.

Whitney Cerak: Yes.

Matt Lauer: How many people can say that?

Whitney Cerak: Yeah, it's true. One in a million.

Matt Lauer: How does that feel?

Whitney Cerak: It's so crazy to me to think that I’ve listened to my own funeral service and now I’m seeing where I supposedly was buried. It's just like a dream to me, you know?

Matt Lauer: So Newell and Colleen, when you come back here now and realized what happened here and how your lives have changed over the last two years, what are your thoughts?

Colleen Cerak: I’m just glad we are on this side of the fence right now.

Newell Cerak: The hurt and the pain is definitely on that side of the fence, and this side of the fence, we've been given a gift. We've been given a tremendous gift in Whitney’s life again and to be able to spend more time with her here on this earth is something that we will be forever thankful for.

Taylor University is building a new chapel dedicated to the five people killed in the crash. Whitney, now a junior, is taking a semester abroad, in Ireland.

Matt Lauer: You have a favorite saying. Actually something that you think God will say to you.

Whitney Cerak: I hope.

Matt Lauer: You hope. When it comes time to pass from one world into the other. And it is, "Well done, good and faithful servant." You have that sign up in a couple of different places. Apparently, God wasn't ready to say it to you.

Whitney Cerak: No, my work -- and I know this sounds so corny, but, my work on Earth isn't finished. Yet.

Matt Lauer: So there's a reason for this.

Whitney Cerak: Yeah. There's a reason for everything.

Matt Lauer: And to the Van Ryn family, they stood by your side for five weeks, never left you. Loved you, because they thought you were their daughter. What do you think about them?

Whitney Cerak: I love the Van Ryn family. They're so great. And the fact that they can still look me in the eye and say, "I love you, Whitney," that just speaks so many words to me. And shows me how much they really do love me.

That love was evident when we asked the two families to share a meal. For nearly two years they protected each others' privacy, never speaking publicly about what happened. Recently, however, they decided to write a book together and tell their story.

Newell Cerak: Father, we do thank you. We thank you for this moment right now. Just to be together. We thank you for the friendship that has developed over the last year and a half. Thank you for Don and Susie and Lisa. Thank you again for Whitney, Lord, and for her life and how she's healed and continuing to heal. Thank you for all that we have. In your name we pray. Amen.

In June, 2006, about a week after the mix-up was discovered, Laura Van Ryn’s body was removed from the cemetery near Whitney's house and laid to rest near her own family's home. That same day, Lisa Van Ryn closed out her blog with one last entry that sums up this story as only one who lived it, could do.

(From the blog)

Lisa Van Ryn: Our final encouragement to all is this: do not hang on to the things of this world too tightly. Life here is but a vapor and there is an eternity ahead. As you remember the Van Ryn and Cerak families, let us encourage you to look to your neighbors as well. God calls us to love.

Last year, the Indiana legislature passed a bill that sets clear standards for identifying accident victims. The truck driver who hit the van pleaded guilty to criminal negligence and was sentenced to four years in prison. And contrary to what you might expect, neither family has filed any lawsuits in this case. They say they just want to forgive, and move on. The name of the families' book is "Mistaken Identity."

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