UPDATE: Camano Island woman hurt, her children killed in early morning accident

UPDATE:

The mother who lost her daughters, Tanya Canell, worked at the Papa Murphy’s Pizza in Stanwood. Her friends at that store are holding a fundraiser for her, donating all proceeds on Thursday, December 22 to the mother and her family.

The fundraiser is from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on December 22 at the Papa Murphy’s at

“All of us at Papa Murphy’s are absolutely devastated to learn of this accident, and our hearts go out to Tanya and her entire family,” Jeremy Lovelace of Papa Murphy’s said in a statement. “Tanya worked for us for five years and we still consider her one of our own. Especially with Christmas just around the corner, we want to help Tanya in what will surely be a lengthy recovery process, both physically and emotionally.”

ORIGINAL TEXT: Twenty-three-year-old Tanya Canell was behind the wheel of her 2002 Dodge Caravan early Tuesday morning when it apparently slid on ice on Sunrise Boulevard, slammed into a tree and went down an embankment.

Strapped in the back seat, say investigators, were her two daughters -- one three years old, the other five months old. Both daughters were killed in the crash.

Canell's van burst into flames after the impact.

"It's not fair to her; she's one of the nicest people I've ever met," said Ashley Dunn, Canell's close friend.

"Both of her legs have been broken. Her pelvis broke. And about 30 percent of her body has been burned."

The Washington State patrol thinks cold temperatures contributed to the accident.

"It would have been below freezing (in a) pretty heavily wooded area," said Sgt. Mark Francis. "The sun would not have been up yet. There was some fog in the area as well so weather could have played a factor.

Still too early to tell how much of a factor it did play."

Dunn said Canell was likely headed to her children's day care before going to work. Now Dunn has started a GoFundMe account to help Canell with expenses.

But the young mother must learn to live without her children.

"They meant the world to her, to her family, to my daughter," said Dunn.

"To my family, too."

According to a relative, Canell is at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, with the father of her children.

They bought a house last summer and were building a life together for their family.

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Cox Media Group