Five weeks ago, several students from my alma mater, Taylor University, died in an accident on I-69 when a truck crossed the median and slammed into a school van. Four students and one staff member were killed.

In a tragic turn of events, it has been revealed this week that there has been a case of mistaken identity with two of the students. From the TU web site:

We had believed that Laura VanRyn was airlifted to Parkview Hospital and has recently begun to emerge from the coma she was in since the night of the accident. The Coroner’s office has notified us that Laura was instead one of the five people who died that evening and that it was Whitney Cerak who was airlifted to Parkview and is today convalescing at a hospital in Grand Rapids, MI.

It is hard to comprehend the extent of this mixup. Imagine waking from a coma and being surrounded by people you have never seen before, or missing your daughter’s funeral because she was buried as someone else. On the other hand, it is a moment of great joy for the family who thought their daughter was dead to find that she is still alive. Link