A twist of fate

(From the blog on Sunday, May 7)

Laura is still sporting the pigtails and her face is looking quite normal; there is virtually no swelling at all.

Laura Van Ryn had been in a coma for 11 days, and her sister Lisa’s blog had developed a big following. The word spread through emails, and churches, all over the world.

(Lisa’s blog)

We continue to see encouraging signs from Laura today as she is now breathing entirely on her own … They had her sitting in a chair and she's been looking pretty peaceful so far today.

Although Laura was still unconscious, she was moving more and more. And as her family stood vigil at her bedside, there wasn't much privacy.

Matt Lauer: And at one point her hospital gown or what she was wearing rode up a little bit and you could see her navel. And it was pierced.

Lisa Van Ryn: Yes.

Matt Lauer: And what was your thought when you saw that?

Lisa Van Ryn: Oh, I didn't know about that. (laughter)

Matt Lauer: I wonder if mom and dad know about that?

Lisa Van Ryn: Yeah. Kind of that, but just -- you know, I don't know.

Susie Van Ryn: You just kind of--

Lisa Van Ryn: You just kind of, again, shrugged it off. Like “Well, she had just been on spring break. Just didn't know that. Now I do. “

Soon the family was rejoicing at a much more significant development. For the first time since the crash, Laura opened her eyes.

Matt Lauer: What was that like?

Don Van Ryn: It wasn't like the movies where her eyes popped open. One eye just barely opening. Just a little slit. That's the way it happened. Am I right?

Lisa Van Ryn: And very glossy and not focusing on anything.

Matt Lauer: That one little glossy slit was a whole lot better than what you'd seen before.

Don Van Ryn: That's right.

Lisa Van Ryn: Right.

Matt Lauer: It must have been a momentous occasion.

Don Van Ryn: That's right. That's true.

Susie Van Ryn: It was like a little glimmer of, "yes."

Don Van Ryn: Did you see it?

Susie Van Ryn: She's -- yeah.

Don Van Ryn: No.

Susie Van Ryn: It was like you almost didn't believe you saw that she had done that.

But it was true. After 20 days in a coma, Laura was slowly waking up.

(Lisa Van Ryn blog, Tuesday, May 16)

Proverbs 16:1 says "to man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue." Laura started talking to us last night!

Matt Lauer: And do you remember what she said?

Don Van Ryn: I think she said, "hi."

Lisa Van Ryn: Hi.

Susie Van Ryn: Yeah. Honey, it was, "hi."

Lisa Van Ryn: Very hoarse. Very weak. “Hi.”

Matt Lauer: Must have been the best word you'd ever heard.

Susie Van Ryn: Oh, yeah.

Don Van Ryn: Very exciting. Very exciting.

Matt Lauer: And what'd you say to her?

Don Van Ryn: “Hi, sweetie.”

Susie Van Ryn: Yeah. You know, we'd been talking to her all along and singing to her and reading to her, with nothing coming back. But, you know, just praying that she heard us. And when she said that it was like you had this urge to, "OK. Let's keep this going."

Even as Laura’s family celebrated her slow return, Whitney's family was trying to restart their lives. Parents Newell and Colleen returned to a home that would never be the same, leaving their other daughter Carly behind at Taylor University for the first time since the accident.

Newell Cerak: At that moment I remembered when I was in Mississippi and Carly had called me. And I just remember how helpless I felt. And those feelings all came up again. At that point leaving her again, because I just felt helpless to leave her there.

Matt Lauer: You two go back home and you got to get back to your lives. You had to. You went back to work.

Colleen Cerak: Yes.

Matt Lauer: Had to get used to the fact that Whitney was gone. Those first few weeks must have just been impossible?

Colleen Cerak: They were hard. But--

Newell Cerak: They're like a blur to me. We felt this huge hole in our hearts. Even though we have this hope, even though we know that one day we'll see each other again, it doesn't diminish the pain.

Three weeks, one day after the crash: May 18.

Matt Lauer: A big day. You moved Laura from the hospital to a rehabilitation center here in Grand Rapids. Were you nervous about the move?

Susie Van Ryn: I was.

Matt Lauer: Yeah? Why? What made you nervous?

Susie Van Ryn: Every new move, every new thing they did was anxious for me. You know, I --

Lisa Van Ryn: Not knowing if she was ready medically.

Matt Lauer: But on the other hand it had to be a feeling as if you'd made a big step getting her closer to home?

Susie Van Ryn: Yes.

Don Van Ryn: Absolutely.

Susie Van Ryn: Yes.

Matt Lauer: That she was on the road to getting back home for good?

Susie Van Ryn: Right.

Laura was transported to Spectrum Health Continuing Care Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., not far from her family's home.

(Lisa Van Ryn blog, May 22, 2006)

Let me take a minute here and try to answer a frequently asked question. "So is Laura out of the coma now?" The answer to that is yes. However --  is she alert, bright eyed, and aware of all that's going on? No. Her brain needs to be retrained (or reminded, perhaps) to handle information. Once again, it's going to be a long road for her. This waking up process is a slow one.

But now that Laura had at least partially regained consciousness, her longtime boyfriend noticed something else that was unusual.

Matt Lauer: Aryn, her boyfriend, at one point looked at her eyes and said, "the color appears different." Did he discuss that--

Don Van Ryn: I think so.

Matt Lauer: --with you?

Don Van Ryn: I believe so. They were a little more blue maybe.

Lisa Van Ryn: A little more blue. Yes.

Matt Lauer: And they had more of a greenish hue--

Don Van Ryn: Right.

Matt Lauer: --as you remembered them?

Don Van Ryn: Yeah.

Matt Lauer: How did you figure that out or how'd you explain that?

Lisa Van Ryn: I didn't really think about it, to be honest.

Don Van Ryn: That didn't mean anything to us.

But soon, it would mean the world to them -- and to Whitney’s family as well.

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