Two years ago, Tesfaye Ailbe’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Wadiso, asked to watch a street race the day after she graduated high school in Lincoln, NE. “Around 7 p.m., around there, she said she wanted to go and watch the car race on O Street. ‘Everybody‘s watching,’ she said,” Ailbe told a local news station. Despite giving begrudging permission and asking Hannah to be safe, Ailbe didn’t feel at peace about his daughter going to the event. “My heart didn’t settle down. I simply followed them, went all the way to the Hy-Vee area, and walked around, and I didn’t see them, so I came home.”

Four hours later, he received a devastating phone call. A bystander informed Ailbe there had been a terrible accident. “Somebody helping her pulling her from under the car said, ‘I got this number. You don’t know me, but your daughter is in an accident and in bad shape, please reach her now,” Ailbe said. He rushed to a the scene, where an18-year-old male from Omaha under the influence of marijuana, Kyvell Stark, had driven a black Ford Taurus at 90 miles-per-hour into a white Toyota Corolla. Neither car was part of the racing event, but the Ford brought both vehicles onto the sidewalk where dozens of spectators were watching the Americruise car show where Hannah was also a spectator. The impact was so great that both people in the Toyota were pronounced dead at the scene. The Ford flipped over, pinning two people beneath it, one being Hannah. 20 individuals overall were injured during the crash. When Ailbe arrived, he was told his daughter had died.

“On the road, we cried, fell down on our knees, prayed,” he said. His family wasn’t allowed to go near the scene and fell into grueling despair and prayer. Two hours later, they received another phone call from a hospital, informing them Hannah had not been killed, but was critically injured. “Amen, hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, this is a chance,” Ailbe responded to the call. The family rushed to the hospital where Hannah was being treated for a crushed pelvis. Two days later, she finally woke up and wept upon seeing her family. “The other two didn’t get this chance, you are the lucky one. God is good,” Ailbe told her.

Hannah had a long recovery, but her family was pleased to have to deal with bills and hospital stays over planning a funeral. That August, her GoFundMe page was updated to announce she had taken her first steps.  Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins addressed the “devastating miscommunication” that had led to Ailbe believing his daughter was dead. “When Mr. Ailbe arrived, he ran to one of the cars involved in the crash, pointed to one of the deceased, and told the officers it was his daughter. The officers, who had just been performing life-saving measures, confirmed she had not survived,” the statement said. Eventually, police realized that Hannah had been one of the bystanders struck by the car, and not one of the two killed in the Toyota. “We recognize the grief this tragic misunderstanding caused for all involved. We continue to work with Mr. Ailbe and have acknowledged our sincere regret.”