GAYLORD — “Because your love is better than life my lips will glorify you.”

 — Psalms 63:3

It was a verse found underlined in Whitney Cerak’s Bible among her personal effects at Taylor University and gave comfort to the Cerak family as its faith was tested during those dark weeks after being told their daughter had been identified as one of five victims from a terrible crash near the Indiana college two years ago.

Cerak’s parents, Colleen, a Gaylord teacher, and Newell, an associate pastor at Gaylord Evangelical Free Church, sat down with the Herald Times Thursday to talk about the initial loss of their daughter on April 26, 2006 and the stunning revelation five weeks later that she had been misidentified and in fact had survived the crash.

They shared the dark days and the joyous days which followed the May 31 news that Whitney was indeed alive. They discussed their special bond with the Van Ryn family, whose daughter and sister, Laura, was the young woman misidentified with Whitney. For five weeks, the Van Ryn family believed the Cerak’s daughter to be their own blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter who lay in a coma following the crash.

The Ceraks talked about their recently published book, “Mistaken Identity” written with the Van Ryn family, national TV appearances on the “Today Show,” “Dateline” and “The Oprah Show” and the media scrutiny the two families were subjected to following the improbable turn of events after the accident.

Most of all they shared their faith in God and the miraculous recovery of their daughter.

“I prayed to have God increase my faith,” Colleen said of her response to the news she had lost her 18-year-old daughter. “Newell and I were both raised in a Christian faith. There have been spots along the way when we didn’t know what was going on. We put our faith in God. Our faith had been tested and as a result our faith became that much more real.”

As their faith was tested following the accident, the Ceraks said their faith in God played a pivotal role in the events after the news Whitney had survived the crash, the media attention and their daughter’s physical and mental rehabilitation from her injuries.

“The Van Ryns are half of the story,” Colleen said of the gift of life her family received from God. “Their strength and character has been so evident throughout all of this. The miracle now is how Whitney recovered and we will be forever grateful to the Van Ryn family.”

Newell said he has been in awe of the resilience his daughter has shown during her recovery from the injures she sustained from the accident.

“It has been remarkable for Whitney,” he said. “The hardship and struggle for recovery. The frustration that she might not get better. She has struggled with the idea that she was different and didn’t fit in. Whitney has felt some guilt that she was alive. At school she would run into the siblings of those killed who were also students. It was awkward for her but has been something that turned our good for her.”

The Ceraks said they initially had misgivings about their daughter returning to Taylor after the accident. She returned on a part-time basis for fall semester, just four months after the crash, but were glad of their decision to encourage her return.

“It was an up and down thing at first,” Newell said. “At Thanksgiving she tested at a college sophomore level, up from an eighth grade academic level at the start of the semester. Her attitude got better after that.”

Colleen said her daughter initially had difficulty adjusting  to her new life, but sister Carly, also a Taylor student, helped with the adjustment.

“They had ‘sister’ lunches every week and Whitney told Carly, ‘I miss the old Whitney’ and Carly replied, “I miss the old Whitney, too, but I love the new Whitney.’ It was scary for her to go back to Taylor and we wondered if we made the right decision.”

Although he admits to being “real protective at first” Newell feels he and Colleen did make the right decision in supporting their daughter’s return to Taylor as part of the recovery process. Whitney is currently finishing up a study abroad program in Ireland this semester with 27 other Taylor students and has plans to tour Europe with Carly next month before returning home.

After recent TV appearances on the “Today Show,” “Dateline” and “The Oprah Show,” the media attention has started to subside, but the Ceraks said the days following the news of the mistaken identity of Whitney and Laura Van Ryn quickly turned into a media circus.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Newell said as word spread like wildfire almost two years ago of the misidentification. The event garnered national attention and thrust both families into the spotlight of this most improbable story.

It was only a matter of a few hours after being told the news by his wife that Newell said he received a call on his cell phone while making his way back to Michigan from New York where he had been with a youth group.

“My phone rang and it was the media wanting an interview. I haven’t even seen my daughter and I’m getting calls,” he said of what over the next few days the couple described as a media frenzy.

“People with cameras were waiting in the bushes outside the hospital taking our pictures,” Colleen said of the attention once the story broke.

“The media did some things that were underhanded. We felt violated. Helicopters were flying over the Van Ryn’s house” Newel said of the early experience. “Actually though there were only a couple who were rude. The ‘Dateline’ show turned out well. They told the story in a positive way. They did an amazing job. They let us convey our message, which was to allow us to speak our faith.”

Colleen said the only reason the families accepted offers to tell their story on TV was at the request of their publisher who wanted them to promote the book “Mistaken Identity,” which is currently on several best-seller lists, including the top of the New York Times Best Seller nonfiction list.

“We didn’t want to do the book at first,” Colleen said. “We had a lot of respect for the Van Ryn family and the other victims and we wanted  to focus on Whitney.”

The Ceraks said it was after a memorial service at Taylor on the first anniversary of the accident that the two families sat down and discussed the idea of writing a book.

“Whitney first brought it up and over breakfast with the Van Ryns. Both families thought it would be a good idea as a source of inspiration for people,” Newell said of the collaboration between the two families to write a book of their experience.

Colleen said their experience with the Van Ryns has been nothing short of miraculous.

“It was amazing how well we seemed to know each other,” Colleen related. “Exchanging e-mails of the parts the other family wrote for the book, we realized how we just seemed to be in agreement on everything. It was good to meet them and to express our thanks at what they did for Whitney when she was in the hospital.”

Newell said despite the circumstances which brought the two families together he believes they have developed a life-long bond with the Van Ryn family. “It has been more than a matter of us being acquaintances. It’s a kinship. We’ll always stay in touch with them.”

Looking back on the past two years, Colleen and Newell said the most challenging part of sharing their story has been just that — “Telling the story is the hard part,” Newell said. “Just reliving it. When we were interviewed while doing the book and answering questions, it was hard to relive the whole thing over and over.”

The Ceraks say they couldn’t have asked for a better community to be from than Gaylord. “The people here have been absolutely sensitive to us. We’re thankful for the community,” Colleen said. “It’s been a crazy two years. We’re not famous but grounded in reality.”

— Contact Michael Jones at 748-4513 or michael@gaylordheraldtimes.com.

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