In the fall of 2009 I moved from Chicago suburb to attend Utah State. Little did I know, at the same time a local boy from Providence Utah began taking classes at USU. But it wasn’t until fall of 2012 that we met for the first time. Prior to dating I had been a member of the Cross-Country & Track team at Utah State and Trevor had been in Cambodia on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. During March of 2012 I was involved in a rappelling accident, falling 80-100 ft, that left me a t-12 paraplegic. When I met Trevor I used both a wheelchair and walker to get around. He never knew me while I was running at Utah State. On our first date in February of 2013 I was using a walker to get around. Now how many 21 year old college boys can say their date used a grandma walker? After the date Trevor insisted he walk me to the door. Right as I crossed the door threshold I somehow lost my balance and started falling. Trevor was right there to catch me – so I guess you could say that I fell for him on our first date. Everyone that met Trevor loved him. My family and friends were definitely #teamtrevor. But after over a year of dating, I realized I hadn’t coped with all of the ramifications of my accident, and so we broke up. I focused on my physical rehabilitation and coping with the grief and loss I experienced with paralysis. Trevor continued to attend Utah State meanwhile trying to date, but he couldn’t get me out of his mind. Nearly two years down the road, and after I canceled our plans to meet up 2 or 3 times, we finally met up for dinner in Salt Lake. Trevor’s patience and persistence finally paid off. We cautiously started dating again and kept it a secret from family and friends because we wanted to avoid any outside pressure. But once we were certain that we were back together for good we surprised our parents and friends. Shortly after the secret was out, we were engaged.

To be inspired by this beautiful bride head over to her blog, to read about her story.  She is seriously so talented and strong!