FARGO -- For the parents, it became the longest, most traumatic flight.
From Brazil to Fargo.
Their daughter, a foreign exchange student in Henning, Minn., remains hospitalized with serious injuries following a car crash.
The family said they are incredibly moved and grateful to the host family and a Fargo woman who stepped up and volunteered to translate.
For the past few months, Larissa Hayakawa, 17, has been a new spark at the high school in Henning, Minn.
"She is a blessing, she is wonderful. Everyone who meets her just loves her," Sharon Domier, host family mother in Wadena, Minn., said.
Larissa came to the U.S. as an exchange student, staying with the Domiers.
But a week ago -- icy roads and a crash near Deer Creek, Minn.
"The hardest part was being really far away and not being able to do anything about it," Dante Hayakawa, Larissa's father, said, through Fargo's Heather Ranck, who speaks Portuguese.
Both Larissa and her host sister, Jenna Domier, were injured. Larissa was brought to Sanford in Fargo with serious injuries.
"When we got to Fargo, my heart just broke. I realized then how bad it was. Nobody was saying how bad she was because they didn't want me to feel even worse," said Jenna, who was driving the car at the time of the crash.
But as Larissa's parents from Brazil frantically flew to Fargo, word got out about the crash and Ranck, who knew Portuguese from her exchange time years ago in Brazil, not only met the family at Hector Airport, she has spent hours translating for the parents at Sanford while Larissa recovers.
"Living overseas, I have been in some life-threatening situations. And to see how people rallied around me. I told the Hayakawas, I have a debt to humanity. Everyone has shown a lot of love and concern for one another, it is the least any of us can do," Ranck said.
It was never in the plans but now the Brazil family will celebrate Christmas with their daughter and her host family -- in Minnesota, not South America. In the meantime, students in Henning are raising money at games to help Larissa in her recovery.
"Having this community support, there is really no way to quantify what that means when you are so far away," Dante Hayakawa said.