When it comes to love, it's said "you just know when you know," and that certainly is the case for a Saanich couple.
Two years ago, 23-year-old Laura Faganello suffered a traumatic brain injury after a pole fell on her head while she was at work. The injury left her with serious memory loss – such that she couldn't remember her wedding day, which had happened just nine months prior. Nor could she remember her husband, Brayden, at all.
"I felt very trapped," Laura said. "I felt my choice had been taken away from me."
"Waking up in my bed and I had no idea who he was," was an unsettling memory, she added.
At the same time, the situation was very hard for Brayden, who felt like he was a stranger to his own wife.
"It was heartbreaking, trying to go from giggling and having a great time together, to she has no idea who I am and she's scared when I say 'have a good day, I love you' — just that phrase."
This story, however, has a happy ending.
The couple first met as pen pals, and for two years after her injury, lived basically as roommates in the same home.
During this time, Brayden would jot down love notes for Laura and his dedication, patience and kindness eventually paid off.
"I went to Brayden and I said I can't be in a marriage that I don't remember, but I want to remember you," said Laura.
"I want to know you. So I asked him out on a date, and by the third hole we were flirting."
On Aug. 19, Brayden proposed to Laura for a second time, and the rest, as they say, is history.
"We both knew that we should get married," he said. "We can't explain it. We still can't. But that just penetrated into both of our hearts."
Their love will blossom for the second time, when they get married again on their fourth anniversary, next summer.
