June 30 Posted by Tracy Lucas in Life, Random Mind Food

Where are they now – miracle kids

Browsing through the headlines today, there was a story on CNN discussing a plane crash in the Indian Ocean.

A single toddler appears to be the only survivor.

I cannot imagine.

I feel so strongly for this kid, who quite possibly lost everyone else in the immediate family in one fell swoop.

Is it a bonus to not remember the horrific day, to not really understand what’s going on and why everyone else is so sad?

Or is it even more tragic to be mothered for years, and grow up with no first-hand knowledge of what your mother’s touch felt like, what her voice sounded like, or the things you did together? What was your first word? Where did you get your favorite teddy bear; was it a gift from someone special? What was she waiting to tell you when you got older, when you’d understand?

All the questions…

Maybe it was the parents’ prayers (because you know there are plenty of those going on in an airplane crash) that loved this particular little kid so much, loved the child just enough, to eek by and get the wish granted.

What about all the other kids on the plane? Grown ones, even? Plenty of people got notified that evening that their children were dead, children of all ages.

One of the things the CNN article mentions is the previous occurrence of a similar survivor anomaly. Apparently, in another plane crash in 1987, a little girl named Cecelia Cichan was the only person–of any age–to make it. Everyone else died.

According to this Arizona news archive on that wreck, there were other whole families that were wiped out completely. There was a family of a mom, dad, and three little kids sitting together.

Then they just… weren’t. They were all gone.

There was a 12-year-old boy flying alone for the first time, and his parents were met with news of his death at the terminal instead of the luggage they expected.

The Arizona site (linked above) also has a well-written play-by-play of the events leading up to the crash, along with the final tallies of the victims. Apparently, two people even died on the ground, when the plane landed on their heads.

Unbelievable.

I grew curious, naturally, about the future of that little girl.

I mean, I’m sitting here getting all worked up about this news-to-me news, but in reality, this plane crash happened more than twenty years ago. Most people probably already knew this story; I was just late to the game.

Anyhow, here’s an interesting link that I found when looking for a where-are-they-now update on Cecilia… which then led me off in a whole ‘nother direction, wondering about the rest of the previously famous baby-newsmakers.

Check it out here.

More to come as I have time to Google some of those individuals, no doubt.

UPDATE: found another interesting article, this one about Cecilia’s reaction to the news of her plane crash and the loss of her family. Kids are so resilient… amazing.

.

(Image credit.)

No Responses to “Where are they now – miracle kids”