I got a recommendation for a book from a classmate of mine with whom I keep in touch. The book is worth recommending to any interested readers of this blog.
Title: MISTAKEN IDENTITY: TWO FAMILIES, ONE SURVIVOR, UNWAVERING HOPE Author(s): Don and Susie Van Ryn, Newell, Colleen, and Whitney Cerak Non-fiction, Dewey Dec. Classif. 617.481 (I got it from the Lake Agassiz Library System)
It is a gripping true story about several families of college students who were all enrolled at a small college in Indiana, Taylor College. On the morning of May 31, 2006 several families of Taylor students received the horrifying news that a college van carrying students back to Taylor had been involved in a highway crash when a semi rig had crossed the median of the highway and hit the van head on. Five students were dead at the scene and one was injured critically, transported to a large hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana where she clung to life. She had been identified as Laura Van Ryn and her parents, Don and Susie as well as her sister Lisa and brothers Kenny and Mark rushed to Fort Wayne from their home in Michigan and began the vigil that would last for more than four weeks when the daughter was ready to be transferred to a care center closer to their home. The other familes sadly made the funeral arrangments for their children killed in the crash and that included the Cerak family, Newell and Colleen and their surviving daughter Carly, who held a funeral for Whitney, one of the students identified as dead at the scene.
As the weeks roll on, a horrifying thing begans to unfold as the Van Ryn family realizes that the girl they have been caring for is not their daughter Laura, but is, in fact, Whitney Cerak. The amazing details of the story are what makes this such a gripping book. Both the Van Ryn and the Cerak families meet each other in the worst of circumstances and both families meet the worst possible circumstances with amazing reactions.
One might question: how could two familes NOT know their own daughters? One of them dead and one of them barely alive on life support in a hospital ICU unit? That is another amazing facet of this book and I would not want to reveal how it all unfolds for those who would like to read it for themselves.
I do not recommend books lightly but this is one I do not hesitate to urge others to read.
Every Mom should be able to identify their child! I know my babes bodies, I know their birthmarks, I know their fingers and toes.. I know their ears.. I read about this story, and will have to put this on my must read list:)