VENUS, Texas — For years at New Hope Community Church in Venus, Senior Pastor Mark McDaniel helped his congregants cope with pain and loss.
"People would come to me with grief and heartache," he told WFAA Monday.
Now, he’s the one coming to grips with sudden death.
"You know I’m still in shock of it all," he said.
On Saturday, McDaniel was headed home from a basketball tournament in West Texas with his 17-year-old daughter, Hannah, and wife of 25 years, Brandi.
"I was driving...and I was overcoming by coughing, and I blacked out," Pastor Mark explained. "We hit the guardrail."
Watch the full interview with Mark McDaniel here:
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the accident happened at 2:30 p.m. on I-20 East in Howard County.
The guardrail went through their car.
"I was asking [Hannah] to wake up…and…and when she didn’t, obviously I knew and that’s when my heart died, you know."
Hannah died on impact. She loved Taylor Swift, volleyball and Texas A&M, where she’d just applied.
Brandi died in the ambulance.
"She was the center of my universe," McDaniel told WFAA.
Brandi loved the Lord, he said, and her job teaching autistic school children.
"My daughter and wife are with the Lord," he said. "And one day we’ll be reunited."
That knowledge does not take away his pain, but it does keep him going.
"Well, that’s what I’ve got now," he said. "Without there being Heaven, without there being hope, where would people be?"
Hannah attended Pantego Christian Academy in Arlington. The school, he said, is now accepting donations for a scholarship in her honor.
Anyone interested in donating can contact the school.