Missouri Couple Die in Thanksgiving Night Car Crash, But Their 1-Year-Old Daughter Survives: 'A Miracle Baby'
Courtesy of Craig Hendrick Left: Shandrea and Hannalee Holloway. Right: Shandrea, Patrick and Hannalee Holloway hours before the Thanksgiving crash
Craig Hendrick's life changed when he received a devastating phone call at 1:15 a.m. last month.
It was Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving, and on the line was his half-brother, Bryan Jacoby. He shared the shocking news that their sister, Shandrea Holloway, Bryan's twin, and her husband, Patrick, were killed hours earlier.
A car swerved into their lane and crashed head-on while driving home to Republic, Missouri, from a family gathering in St. Louis. The driver and passenger in the other car also died, according to a police report.
Somehow, Shandrea and Patrick's 14-month-old daughter, Hannalee, survived without experiencing any injuries and was taken to a local hospital in Springfield, Missouri. She was in a rear-facing car seat at the time of the crash.
"The first words out of my wife Michelle's mouth was 'We are taking Hannalee in,'" Craig tells PEOPLE. "It wasn't even a hesitation."
Craig and Michelle soon arrived at the hospital to retrieve Hannalee, and he says the sight of his parentless niece was "heartbreaking."
"She was laying around, playing on the floor of her room," the 38-year-old recalls. "It broke my heart. She was going on like life is normal, and it's not normal."
To survive the fatal crash, he adds, "she's truly a miracle baby."
Courtesy of Craig Hendrick From left, Connor, Michelle and Craig Hendrick, and Hannalee Holloway
Hannalee is "adjusting well," says Craig, who manages the family's diesel engine manufacturing business in Springfield and is dad to 1-year-old Connor. With three-and-a-half months between the two cousins, he says, "I've pretty much got twins now, and they are getting along great."
"She's doing fantastic," Hendrick continues. "It's good and bad that it (the accident) happened at that age. You can't see an effect on her right now, we're not seeing any issues from her as far as missing her parents, which is sad. But we are going to do everything we can to make sure she knows her parents."
Shandrea, 44, met Patrick, 44, a Navy veteran and dairy worker, through friends in 2013. Married in 2014, Shandrea went through several years of unsuccessful in vitro fertilization procedures.
After Shandrea suffered a miscarriage, "the doctor said 'You're done. It will be dangerous for you to try,'" recalls 49-year-old Mike Holloway, Patrick's brother. "After they stopped [the IVF], she got pregnant with Hannalee."
Then doctors warned Shandrea she would likely not carry the baby to term.
"And she was born healthy, that alone was a miracle," says Holloway. "To have survived a crash like this in the way that she did with no injuries, we feel pretty confident that she has something amazing in store for her life. There's a reason that she's supposed to be here."
Courtesy of Craig Hendrick Gavin, Shandrea, Patrick and Hannalee Holloway last year
Patrick also had a son, Gavin, 10, from a previous relationship and shared custody.
Both Patrick and Shandrea, who worked from home as a support analyst for an I.T. company, were devoted parents and a wonderful couple, relatives say.
"Shandrea was very caring, always had a smile on her face," says Bryan, of Springfield. "And she would be willing to help anybody out that needed it."
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As fate would have it, Michelle, a social worker for Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital, had been trying to convince Craig to consider trying for another child.
On the morning of Thanksgiving, Craig recalls telling Michelle: "Why don't we look into adoption when I turn 40?'"
All that changed instantly when the couple received the call about the accident 15 hours later.
To help Craig and Michelle pay for legal fees involving guardianship of Hannalee, and other new expenses, including daycare, friends started a GoFundMe.
Courtesy of Craig Hendrick Shandrea and Hannalee Holloway
A GoFundMe has also been set up for Gavin, who now must grow up without his dad.
Bryan, Mike, and other family members fully support the couple becoming Hannalee's parents.
She recently started daycare and is now overcoming RSV, which left her with a fever, nasty cough, and runny nose during Christmas.
That day, Craig and Michelle brought the children to Craig's parents' home, which is nearby, for Christmas breakfast and opening presents.
At times it was difficult to celebrate a holiday without Patrick and Shandrea, both buried on Dec. 2. "It was weird knowing they weren't walking in that door," he says.
But one small comfort is that by looking at Hannalee, the family will forever keep the couple's memory alive. Says Bryan: "We got my sister, and we got Pat right here with us every time we see her."
