When it comes to true love, some people refuse to give up.
When Hisashi Nishizawa first met Mai Nakahara, it was love at first sight. The couple dated for two years and together they endured all of life’s many ups and downs. Their future together seemed destined to continue uninterrupted, well into their golden years. After two years together, they decided to get married. Then tragedy struck.
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One day, Mai just wasn’t acting like herself. She started to throw temper tantrums over the smallest things, and she would scream and cry for no reason. Worse yet, she stopped recognizing friends and family members. One day, she turned and looked at Hisashi and said, “Who are you?”
Hisashi was crushed.
Mai was admitted to the hospital, but doctors were stumped about what was causing Mai’s sudden personality change and trouble recognizing her loved ones. As her condition worsened, Mai’s family gathered around her and prayed for her to return to the fun-loving person she’d always been.
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While in the hospital, Mai suffered a cardiac arrest, but doctors were able to bring her back from the brink of death.
Sadly, she remained on a ventilator to help her breathe, and she lapsed into a coma soon after. Her concerned physicians told Hisashi and Mai’s family that she might never wake up.
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Five months after her hospitalization, doctors finally determined the cause of her medical breakdown. She had limbic encephalitis which had been caused by an undiagnosed ovarian tumor. She had surgery to remove the tumor, but her prognosis was still bleak.
Mai’s devastated parents urged Hisashi to find another woman to marry.
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But Hisashi wouldn’t leave Mai. “I beg of you, please allow me to continue to stay by Mai’s side,” he said tearfully. “I want to look at her smile again… I want to hear her call my name again… I do not want to give Mai up…â€
At long last, after Mai had been in the hospital for a year and a half, she opened her eyes. Her brain function had not improved much, however, and she still didn’t recognize her family. In spite of this fact, Hisashi stayed by her side, hoping just being close to her would help her fall in love with him all over again.
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Three years after first falling ill, Mai left the hospital with her family and Hisashi by her side.
The couple spent the next several years helping Mai return to wellness. The path to recovery was long and slow, but Mai knew she could do anything as long as Hisashi was by her side.
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Mai and Hisashi had to get to know and love each other all over again. They also had to get used to Mai’s new physical state – she remains in a wheelchair and still has cognitive problems.
Throughout it all, Hisashi’s love for her never wavered. In August 2014, eight years after he first proposed, the couple finally walked down the aisle to become man and wife.
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They tied the knot in an emotional ceremony that their loved ones feared would never happen.
Years later, their enduring love story was made into a movie entitled “The 8-Year Engagement.”
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If that’s not true love, we don’t know what is. We hope this couple finally gets the “happily ever after” they’ve waited so long for! Please share this story to spread the love.
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