Danielle and Matt Davis had been married only 7 months when this terrible accident happened and changed their lives forever. After being advised to turn off her husband's life support machine, Danielle was faced with the decision of a lifetime.
She was determined to not give up on her husband, and when he finally woke up, what he said to her proved that she was right all along.
Continue to read their story.
The couple met in May 2010 and they knew it was love at first sight.
In a matter of weeks, the couple married in a ceremony in Forsyth, Georgia.
Danielle was 23 at the time and Matt was just 22, but what was to happen shortly after would test their commitment to what spending the rest of their lives together really meant.
In July 2011, just 7 months after they celebrated their happy union, Matt was in a terrible motorcycle accident while on his way to work. He collided with the back of an illegally parked vehicle in a merging lane of the freeway.
Matt was left with a severe traumatic brain injury, along with multiple broken bones. After 9 days in hospital, his doctors said that he had a 1 in 10 chance of ever waking up, and suggested that his life support machine be turned off. Of the 10% of people that wake up after experiencing a similar injury, few are ever able to do anything independently again.
In spite of his grim prognosis, Danielle did not want to let their lives together end so quickly.
The doctors agreed to allow Matt to remain on life support, but he would have to be cared for at home.
"During that time he showed little progress and was discharged from the hospital to our home where my mom and I cared for him 24/7," Danielle wrote later on her GoFundMe page.
Danielle and her mom were responsible for administering more than 20 different medications to him every day, doing his physical therapy as well as feeding him through a tube and bathing him.
After a month at home, something remarkable happened. He unbelievably opened his eyes.
Matt then started to follow his caregivers around the room with his eyes and even began to move his lips.
One day while Danielle was doing Matt's physiotherapy, something happened that left her in utter shock. Matt actually spoke to his wife for the first time since the accident.
"We noticed he was trying to talk, more like whisper," said Danielle. "One day I put his hat in his hand, and told him to put it on his head. After telling him multiple times he gasps out, "˜I'm trying!' It was the greatest thing I've ever heard!"
While he soon was able to speak again, he had no memory of the past 3 years. With the help of physical, speech and occupational therapists Matt was able to have a conversation. He could also eat and walk with the help of a walker.
5 years after his accident, Matt is still recovering but is getting stronger every day. Follow this couple on their journey through their Instagram page.
