Couple Renews Vows After Husband Loses Reminiscence in Crash
Andrew and Kristy Mackenzie had been heading house from a household celebration on Father’s Day in June when a automobile collided together with his bike — a near-fatal accident that despatched each of them to the ER. When the 58-year-old Virginia man awoke from the traumatic occasion in a hospital mattress, his spouse of 37 years realized they had been dwelling one more nightmare: he thought it was 1993.
“He knew me, however I might see him trying by way of me,” Kristy, 54, tells PEOPLE. “I let you know, that is the scariest day of my life. Seeing him look by way of me like that, I did not know the way I used to be going to get him again.”
Even medical doctors weren’t certain if his recollections of their final 29 years collectively had been ceaselessly gone. Little did Kristy know that her husband wouldn’t solely get well, however they’d fall in love yet again, culminating within the couple renewing their vows in entrance of their youngsters and grandchildren in North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Aug. 29.
It was a dream come true for Kristy, who had one thought on her thoughts as she laid in her hospital mattress after the accident, unaware of her husband’s alarming situation: “I wish to marry this man once more.”
The couple, who first tied the knot in 1985, credit score their love with holding them alive — and giving them a cause to reside.
“I do not suppose something can cease us,” Kristy says. “Even a automobile hitting us did not cease our love.”
Andrew and Kristy’s Early Days
It is an unwavering connection that started in June 1984, when 16-year-old Kristy noticed 19-year-old Andrew throughout a tenting journey in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
“After I met this man, I knew he was the one,” Kristy says.
At first, a romance between them appeared inconceivable. Kristy had a boyfriend, whereas Andrew was within the Military and stationed at close by Fort Bragg. However he got here house to Harrisonburg on the weekends, about 10 miles away from the place she lived. By August, Kristy’s boyfriend was historical past, and she or he and Andrew had been relationship.
“She did not simply soften my knees — it was my complete physique,” says Andrew. “I used to be performed.”
A short while later, Andrew acquired orders to maneuver to Germany. Though they hadn’t been relationship lengthy, he proposed. “There was no person else for me,” he says.
“He did not wish to go away me,” Kristy provides, “and I did not need him to go away me.”
Just below a yr after they first met, they tied the knot on March 31, 1985, when she was a highschool junior. She took her exams early earlier than becoming a member of him in Europe, the place she attended her senior yr on a army base.
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Their Daughters Jokingly Name Them “Gross”
Virtually 38 years and two grownup youngsters later — Kristy and Andrew share daughters Lorelai, 31, and Amanda, 30 — their love and fervour for one another is as sturdy as ever.
“Our daughters say we’re gross as a result of in all places we’re, I am going to kiss him or he’ll kiss me,” Kristy says. “We’re holding palms in all places.”
“I completely soften in his arms,” she provides. “I bear in mind my sister telling me years in the past that it will put on off.” She insists it hasn’t. “I can promise you that,” she says.
Father’s Day Goes Horribly Mistaken
Their love story took a surprising activate June 19, when the couple acquired along with their youngest daughter and her household in Grottoes, Virginia, to rejoice Father’s Day with a four-wheeler experience and high quality time. After the enjoyable wrapped up round 3:30 p.m., the couple mounted Andrew’s bike to experience house. Kristy turned to wave to her daughter and granddaughter. That is the very last thing they bear in mind earlier than the crash that modified their lives.
The Mackenzies say that authorities informed them a driver ran a cease signal. After the impression, a witness informed their daughter, the couple was thrown about 60 ft.
“I do not know the way we might have survived it,” Andrew says. “I can not think about us going that far within the air and having the ability to survive.”
They each suffered in depth accidents. Andrew had a concussion and broke two T-vertebrae in his again, his left pelvis bone, his left scapula, 5 ribs and his nostril. He was airlifted to UVA College Hospital in Charlottesville, the place he wanted to bear emergency surgical procedure for inner bleeding and get two screws positioned in his hip.
In the meantime, Kristy had a light concussion; broke her again, hip, seven ribs, and her left scapula; and suffered shoulder harm. Thankfully, her accidents did not require surgical procedure, and she or he was first despatched to a neighborhood hospital.
As quickly as hospital workers eliminated Kristy’s respiration tube, she says, the alarmed spouse requested to see her husband. Her request was granted.
“All I wished was to be with him and see him,” she says.
29 Years Disappear
When Andrew awakened within the hospital, the nurse requested him to say his identify and the present month and yr. He stated it was 1993.
Though the couple had “been by way of so many issues” over time — Kristy had a stroke when she was solely 17, her mom died of breast most cancers and Andrew battled prostate most cancers in 2016 — the crash was the worst, she says.
As quickly as Kristy was allowed away from bed, she sat with Andrew in his room.
“They stated we could not room collectively and I begged them and begged them,” she says. “Simply sitting and holding his hand was higher for each of us.”
“I by no means would’ve made it with out her,” Andrew says. “I’ve at all times stated, ‘You have to have a objective and hope in life.’ And for me, the love of my life is Kristy, but additionally, I’m going to work to offer and make issues higher for our children and grandkids. I’ve acquired hope and objective.”
A Miracle within the Hospital
When Andrew was moved out of the ICU, hospital workers lastly relented and put the couple in the identical hospital room. However Kristy cried as a result of the beds had been too far aside. Whereas mendacity in her mattress, she could not see him. So nurses tied again the curtains, moved the beds nearer collectively and positioned chairs side-by-side so they may sit collectively.
“I simply wished to be beside him,” she says. “We even had a ‘Do Not Disturb’ signal {that a} nurse made — simply to mess with our daughters.”
After they had been allowed to maneuver into the identical room, his reminiscence miraculously got here again.
“All the things appeared to click on,” Kristy says. “I stored telling them, he could be higher so long as we had been collectively. I stated, ‘In the event you allow us to be collectively, he’ll get higher.’ And that is when it began coming round.”
A “Good” Wedding ceremony Day
The ordeal had Kristy feeling sentimental. Someday within the hospital, she texted certainly one of her greatest pals who was on the couple’s 1985 wedding ceremony. “When this mess is over,” she wrote, “I am marrying this man once more.”
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First, they wanted to get again to actual life. After spending about 11 days on the hospital, and one other 11 at a rehab facility, they lastly acquired to go house on July 10.
Their annual household seaside trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks in August marked the primary time each of them had been in a position to stroll once more with out wheelchairs or walkers. And it was the right time for Andrew to make his transfer. Whereas strolling alongside the seaside, Andrew dropped to his knees within the sand and proposed to Kristy.
Two days later, on Aug. 29, the couple renewed their vows as their youngsters and grandchildren seemed on. Making the expertise much more particular, their son-in-law officiated.
“It was wonderful,” Kristy says. “Household means every little thing to us.”
“It was excellent,” Andrew provides.
Reflecting on their full-circle expertise, Kristy says there is a takeaway for everybody: “I hope it reveals others to like such as you imply it, and by no means quit on love or one another.”
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