Swapped ID Crash Victim On Rapid Mend

For more than a month, Whitney Cerak's family thought she was dead, due to a tragic case of mistaken identity. She lay in a coma, identified as Laura VanRyn, who had died in the van accident that injured Cerak.

When Cerak regained consciousness, it became apparent to VanRyn's family that she wasn't VanRyn, and the mix-up was revealed.

Now, Cerak's family says she has been undergoing six hours of therapy a day, and is making excellent progress.

New photos of a smiling Cerak, enjoying the outdoors with the help of her boyfriend, suggest the 19-year-old is getting stronger every day, CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers reported on The Early Show Friday

Her family, on a Web log about her progress, calls it "absolutely amazing."

But, observes Bowers, Cerak's tale of recovery seems more suited to TV movie than real life.

"It was like, 'Wait a second. A month ago I sang at your funeral. We buried you. You're gone. And then we all sat there and cried and hugged, and now you're back,' " says Alysha Wheeler, the sister of Cerak's boyfriend's sister.

Back, says Bowers, seemingly resurrected, after an unfathomable mistake.

On April 26, a van carrying students and staff from Taylor University, a small, evangelical Christian college in Upland, Ind., about 60 miles from Indianapolis, was struck by a tractor-trailer. Five people died at the accident site and seven were injured, two seriously.

Somehow, in the ensuing chaos, Cerak, of Gaylord, Mich., was declared dead, and another young woman, identified as VanRyn, 22, of Caledonia, Mich., was airlifted to a nearby hospital.

While the Taylor University community and Cerak's family grieved their loss, the VanRyns raced to the bedside of a beautiful blonde girl they were told was Laura.Pictures of the two girls show similarities but, says Bowers, many, particularly friends of the girls, wonder how the mistake could have happened.

Classmate Ashley Moore says, "I don't see how they could have missed it."

Cerak had suffered facial swelling, broken bones and cuts and bruises, and was in a neck brace.

Bowers says the mix-up began at the accident site, when the wrong wallet was matched with the wrong victim. It was compounded when the Ceraks chose not to look at the body before burying the woman who turned out to be VanRyn.

The Vanryns believed what the doctors told them: that the woman in the bed, who was actually Cerak, was their daughter. And the one person who could have straightened things out was in a coma.

It wasn't until she regained consciousness a month later that the VanRyns began to wonder. She was, in their words, "saying and doing some things that made us question whether or not she was Laura."

And on May 30, they confirmed the girl they'd been caring for was Cerak. Their daughter, Laura, lay buried in a grave bearing Cerak's name. For those who knew Laura, the news was devastating.

"I'm wondering, you know, how this could have happened. It just seems unbelievable. It doesn't seem real," reflects Ellen Zack, her high school principal.

For Cerak's family and friends, the joy was bittersweet.

Her grandfather, Emil Frank, says, "One is happy now. The other is grieving. And the two families are getting together to help each other through this process."

As early as Friday, Cerak will be evaluated to see if she can return home, to a community Bowers says "now truly believes in miracles."