June 02, 2006

• Let me whisper my last goodbyes I know - its serious
• Terrible confusion. However, Whitney seems to be recovering, and that's the bright spot in all this. Hope both families find peace after their grueling ordeals.
• Very heart-wrenching but a few things seem inevitable - lawsuits, media exploitation and a movie.
• I just heard about this for the first time on Radio 4 about 10 minutes ago. How terrible for all involved. No, I don't want to see her.
• Tragedy upon tragedy, indeed. Good job everyone believes in a loving God, what?
• I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors...
• I've seen two corpses in my life. Neither were recognizable as the people I'd known when they were alive. The two girls look very similar, and both had head injuries. Nobody's to blame here, and I hope nobody gets sued.
• It's astounding, but I guess it's possible that this could have happened. It blows my mind that in five weeks it never occurred to the Van Ryns that the girl they were caring for was not their daughter, but I've heard that people in comas do look dead.
• Its a pretty crazy story but those girls bore a strong resemblance, down to similar height and build, and it sounds like their injuries made them both much less recognizable. very sad, though, I can't imagine...
• Wow, that is unbelievable. I cannot imagine the emotions of something like this.
• I'm medical. This stuff happens, and it's horrible when it does. I would venture, Orange Swan, that the young woman's injuries also have disfigured her. She's never going to be the same person her family knew... not really. So sad for everyone.
• I would imagine that the VanRyns suspected for a while that she wasn't their daughter, but it's got to be so damn hard to admit something like that when it means that your real daughter is already dead and buried.
• Which poses the morbid question: Will the re-inter her, or just change the tombstone? I imagine they'd have to do the former, since they don't own the cemetary plot. Horrible.
• Well... Seeing as the girls were friends... and the other family basically received the greatest gift they could've ever gotten (i.e. finding out their daughter is still alive... beats the lotto by amount 10 million points) I wouldn't be surprised if they just let the other family change the tombstone... I know I would. I was reading about this in the paper today, and it struck me as so (for lack of a better term) "funny" and not in the ha ha sense, as to the different family's reactions... The parents of the dead then alive girl called it a "miracle, fairytale, gift from God" and the other were too distraught to speak, but I can imagine their response to the "gift from God or fairytale analogy"...
• And I'm terribly sorry, guys, but I thought Underpants said "Will they re-enter her, or just..." ewwwwww....
• Agree with you, tracicle -- the survivor evidently would say Whitney when she addressed as Laura, but I can understand why the dead girl's parents would be in denial for a time. When you so much want something to be true, and the authorities are telling you oh yes it is true, it's understandable it could take a while before serious doubts emerge and you're able to acknowledge them. They were in effect having to argue with the authorities who'd already made a decision -- couldn't have been easy for the VanRyns, who would still have been in a state of shock themselves. A pitiful situation for both families. But I think I'd far rather be in the place of the Cernaks than the VanRyns, all in all. Not that anyone was given a choice.
• And I'm terribly sorry, guys, but I thought Underpants said "Will they re-enter her, or just..." We save that for Quid.
• I know these people. -twitches-
• so sorry to hear that VOL, hugs to you (and those families)
• What Medusa said. *hugs VOL*
• What a sad story; I've been following it as much I can.
• Bless you, Vertex of Life, if you need help I am in the Denver area.
• No blessings for me, blessings for them.. =) Thank you though.