A woman suffers a traumatic brain injury, develops amnesia, then falls in love with the stranger who was her husband.
It sounds like a soap opera plot, but it is the true life and love story of Laura and Brayden Faganello—a couple fated for each other.
Recently, Laura posted her engagement announcement on Facebook. What was unusual about her post was that it was about her engagement to her current husband, Braydon.
The couple met and married in 2016, but 9 months later Laura suffered a brain injury leaving her with no memory of Braydon.
She was setting up an event when a large tent pole collapsed and struck her on the head. When she woke, her most recent memories were from when she was 17 years old.
She spent the next two years in near constant pain and needing to relearn everything. And since she didn’t remember anything from after she was 17, the man whom she fell in love with and married had become a stranger. She couldn’t even watch her own wedding video or look at the photographs of what should have been remembered as the best day in her life without crumbling.
Instead, she woke every morning to a man she didn’t know sharing her bed. She had no emotional attachment to Braydon, and every day with him in her home felt like torture, particularly because he held such intimate memories of her. Her misery in their marriage devastated Braydon, who loved Laura so much.
But Lauren was determined to overcome her injuries, especially the damage to her marriage. After a year of anguish, she made one of the most important decisions of her life. She stopped crying herself to sleep and invested herself into getting to know Braydon. When he realized her level of commitment to their marriage–one she didn’t even remember choosing–he softened his heart and began courting her all over again.
They took long drives, watched their favorite TV shows together and found themselves laughing at the same things as they used to. They decided to start dating again.
Over the next eight months, Laura fell in love with Braydon again, more intensely than ever. And even though her earlier memories of her life with Braydon will likely never return, she’s cherishing the new ones they’re making now together.
Their wedding is planned for next year, on what would have been their fourth wedding anniversary, to seal what Laura and Braydon already know. They were meant to be–forever.
