Shine OnA picture of true love: young couple still weds despite groom’s traumatic brain injury
Ian and Larissa Murphy were married on August 28, 2010.
It almost didn't happen.
Watch their incredible love story below.
Ian and Larissa, college sweethearts from Pennsylvania, had been dating for 10 months and had already discussed getting engaged when, in September of 2006, Ian was involved in a car crash that left him with permanent brain damage.
He could no longer communicate, walk, or feed himself. He needed full-time care.
Larissa moved into Ian's family home to help care for him. She continued to date him.
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"Looking back, it's weird because he couldn't talk and he couldn't eat, so we probably looked like complete weirdos when we went on dates. But we had a blast and I just talked to him all the time," she says in the video.
"I still don't think that Ian would have ever left me if the role had been reversed. And walking away from my best friend was never truly an option," she adds.
Larissa vowed she would marry him if he could recover enough for him to communicate with her.
Her patience paid off.
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"It took Ian two and a half years to use his voice again after the accident. That’s what we had been waiting for. I didn’t want to marry Ian if he couldn’t talk to me. If we could communicate, we could be married. Once he started talking, he was able to communicate to his dad that he still wanted marriage. His dad passed away two months before Ian proposed, but he was a huge advocate for us and encouraged us to make a decision — either to walk away or get married. He didn’t want to see us dating forever," she says.
As Ian's condition improved, they faced another obstacle: getting legal permission to marry, ensuring that it was in Ian's best interest.
Fortunately for the couple, a local judge was happy to permit their union, telling the couple, "You two exemplify what love is all about. I believe that marriage will not only benefit you both but our community, and hope that everyone in this city could see your love for one another."
A video capturing their beautiful wedding day and glimpses of their marriage is now going viral.
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"And even though we chose marriage, we chose it sadly. Sorrow has been a permanent resident in our '20s," Larissa writes at Desiring God.
Still the couple clings to the words of a dear friend who lost his wife to cancer: "You will never regret loving this much."
When asked by Darling Magazine where she finds her strength, Larissa replies:
"Looking back, and looking forward, it’s clear to us that our faith in God has been our strength. At the time that it’s happening, you’re just taking each step in faith, even if that faith feels smaller than a mustard seed. I read a quote recently, unfortunately I can’t cite it correctly, but it has summed up much for me: 'Before me, as behind, God is, and all is well.'"
On the couple's blog, Pray for Ian, Larissa recently posted one of Ian's poems:
"5'6 and she's filled with love for me. she's beautiful and she loves me. I love her, everything about her, and there's nothing else that I want to say about it. because its not every day you love somebody this much."
"Larissa, I love you."
