Boyfriend shocked by mix-up
Family, friends hold service for VanRyn.

KENTWOOD, Mich. (AP) - For five weeks, he sat by her hospital bed, talked to her, held her hand.

During those many hours together, Aryn Linenger said he never doubted he was comforting his beloved girlfriend of three years, Laura VanRyn.

"I saw her hands, her feet, her complexion, and I can’t believe that it wasn’t her," Linenger said yesterday during a memorial service for her at Kentwood Community Church. "Even to this day, it’s amazing to me that with all that time we spent together, that I just didn’t know."

VanRyn’s family and friends were thankful she had survived the van crash that killed five people until it was revealed last week there had been a terrible mix-up.

The young woman recovering in a Grand Rapids rehabilitation center for more than a month was not VanRyn but Whitney Cerak, a fellow Taylor University student who closely resembled VanRyn.

VanRyn’s family planned to exhume the 22-year-old college senior’s body, which was buried April 30 under a tombstone with Cerak’s name.

"She brought more joy to us than we could ever imagine," her older brother Kenny VanRyn told the 1,900 people at the memorial service.

Lisa VanRyn had maintained a Web log about the hospitalized woman who she believed was her sister before Cerak’s family took over the journal last week.

"I hope that in whatever time I have left here, I have come close to loving people the way that she did," VanRyn said.

Members of Laura VanRyn’s congregation also prayed for her and her family during a church service earlier yesterday.

"This week, we were introduced to a concept that can only be called retroactive grieving," pastor Andy Smith of Forest Hills Bible Chapel said.

Members of Cerak’s family, however, "have experienced a resurrection of sorts, and we can rejoice with them," he said.

About 180 miles to the north in Cerak’s hometown of Gaylord, about 1,000 worshippers at Gaylord Evangelical Free Church offered prayers and listened yesterday as pastor Jim Mathis described the reunion between Cerak and her parents after the mistake was discovered.

"I saw a scene from heaven," Mathis said, his voice choking with emotion. "I’ll never be the same, folks."

Cerak, who bore a resemblance to VanRyn, was in a coma until recently and suffered a swollen face and broken bones, cuts and bruises and brain injuries in the crash.

VanRyn’s parents did not begin to question whether she was actually their daughter until, as she regained consciousness, she started saying things that did not make sense to them, including referring to VanRyn’s father by a pet name he did not recognize.

She replied "Whitney" several times after VanRyn’s parents addressed her as "Laura," Anne Veltema, a spokeswoman with Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Mich., said last week. Dental records conclusively confirmed the mix-up Wednesday.

Linenger offered an apology to the woman he believed was his girlfriend in case his attention after the accident left her feeling confused. "I want you to know that I still pray for that girl," he said during his 17-minute eulogy. "From Day One, I said that she was a miracle child."

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