Happy almost V-day, Ty and Renee
What I’m about to share is sort of old, but is just so lovely that it deserves to be passed around. In October of last year, Ty Ziegel and Renee Kline were married in Metamora, Illinois. As KSDK so aptly put it, “they promised to love one another in sickness and in health…somehow that pledge seems a bit superfluous.”
According to the Times Online, Ty, a Marine stationed in Iraq, survived a suicide bomber attack that left him partially disabled, burnt, and disfigured almost beyond recognition.
“I don’t remember saying it to Renee, but I’d have understood if she’d said, ‘Yeah, I’m out of here,’” Ty says.
He had seen other badly wounded soldiers and marines get dumped by their girlfriends in hospital. Sometimes they would be cruel to their girlfriends and chuck them pre-emptively to spare themselves hurt. But quietly and with little fuss, Ty, 24, and Renee, 21, resolved to stick it out.
Renee felt sick with nerves before going up the aisle, but she had no second thoughts. She looked radiant in a white dress. “You’re beautiful,” Ty told her. He wore his combat medals and a Purple Heart for being wounded in action.
Donna had been shocked when she found out the extent of Ty’s injuries, but she told her daughter she simply had to “follow her heart, and that we’d make it work, if she wanted it”. Today she is convinced that they will never part.
Becky recalled that on Valentine’s Day in hospital in 2005, Ty was so wounded he could hardly speak. She and Renee taped a pen to the splint on his hand and he wrote as best he could on a dry erase board: “Ty and Renee”.
“Well, we think it said ‘Ty and Renee’,” Becky laughs. “Then doctors removed his ‘trake’ – the tracheostomy tube in his neck that had been feeding him when his lips were too burnt – and he said, ‘Renee, will you be my valentine?’ I cried.” His next words were: “Do you want to make out?” Months passed before they could, but at that moment she knew that he hadn’t really changed.
I’ve read the story plenty of times but it still leaves me teary-eyed. If you love to peak into other people’s nuptials as much as I do, some of Ty and Renee’s wedding photos can be found here.
The tale of the saga that Ty and Renee have endured has been making the rounds lately and you see a lot of comments talking about ‘pity’ and ‘obligation’ and notions even more presumptive. But to those people, I say that if the thought of Renee still loving Ty seems so foreign, try imagining yourself telling a disfigured loved one, “I’m sorry, I can’t love you anymore because you’re too weird looking.”
Personally, I wish these two all the love and luck and abundance in the world.
Photo by Nina Berman
Pity? I don’t see that in Renee’s eyes.
There’s a reason they say love is blind. True love sees beyond the surface to what’s in a person’s heart. In that way, I think, love is more clear-sighted than mere eyes.
Best of luck to Ty and Renee…not that I think they’ll need a lot. They’ve already proved themselves up to the task of coping with virtually anything life throws at them. It’s not easy to make the committment to someone with a host of health issues, and the day to day of it can be remarkably frustrating. It’s for the best that those who can’t cope walk away. But those who have the strength to stay…kudos to them.
We tend to think of love as something that’s always pretty and always about hearts and flowers, but the real test is when the hard times hit and you stay put with each other, and can’t imagine it any other way.
The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life is my beloved’s bypass scar. I kiss it on a regular basis, because it kept him here with me.
Not to be Miss Crass here, but sometimes it IS possible to find that somebody, regardless of how insanely hideous he looks, is actually weirdly hot in his own way.
I mean, finding somebody attractive just on a superficial level just as they are has to be the first step, right?
Wow. That’s all, just “wow.”
Good for her. It must have been a great shock to see her fiance injured as badly as he was.
Lovely red trim on the wedding dress, by the way.
She was a beautiful bride and happier than I ever thought she could be.
That’s wonderful to know, Donna. Thanks for stopping by
Two people cleaving to each other for better, for worse.
I hope for both of them that it’s all For Better for them from now on, and God bless.
Amazing story….brought a tear to my eye. What a strong couple!
They are now getting a divorce just shy of their one year anniversary.
LOL. An update is in order…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee8dXVE960s
As shown in this youtube video from a CNN report, Ty and Renee separated before their one-year anniversary.
You should probably stop being so sappy and start being smarter. Everyone saw this coming a mile away.
Schadenfreude much with the LOL, Larry? I’ll take hope over cynicism any day, even if I’m frequently proven wrong.
Shut your pie hole “Never teh Bride”.
Whoa there, Larry. I’m thinking you either have some beef with Ty or Renee or you have some beef with me. Either way, chill out.
Considering that Larry has been leaving abusive messages (most of which never made it out of the spam catcher) on this one entry for the past two years, I’m going with pathetic loser.
Move on, Larry. Nothing new to see here.