You never really know what it could mean to swear to love your mate through good times and bad. The experience of 22-year-old Matt Davis and his spouse Danielle has been nothing short of remarkable. These two have overcome all difficulties and demonstrated to us what true love and commitment are all about in a world where divorce rates are through the roof.
Love at first sight marked the start of it all. After only eight weeks of dating, Matt and Danielle made the decision to be married. They were so in love that they were eager to begin constructing a future together. They had no idea that fate had something else in mind for them.
Matt’s coma came barely seven months after they were married, bringing tragedy. He suffered a catastrophic brain injury, multiple shattered bones, and internal damage as a result of a horrifying motorcycle accident. The doctors told Danielle to let go and remove Matt’s life support since they didn’t think there was much hope. Yet Danielle was not going to give up.
“I couldn’t bear to let go, and we didn’t even get to start our life together,” Danielle remarked. She brought Matt home and took care of him nonstop, a difficult decision she made but determined to fight for her spouse.
As the months passed, hope appeared to wane. Then something miraculous occurred. Matt came to after a grueling three months in a coma. He had to relearn every fundamental skill, including walking and talking, on his difficult and demanding journey to recovery.
With the constant love and support of Danielle, Matt overcame every challenge. Even though he suffers from memory loss and finds it difficult to remember their wedding or their past, he is happy that he married Danielle. He would not be here today without her.
Matt is currently headed toward a full recovery. He is able to speak, walk, and even ride a bike. It is quite amazing how resilient and determined he has been in his battle for survival. Their moving story demonstrates that all is possible when pure love is present.
Tales like Matt and Danielle’s serve as a reminder that there is always a ray of hope, even amid the most dismal and black circumstances. It is evidence of the strength of the human spirit and the efficacy of love. We encourage you to read the article below if you found this touching tale to be enjoyable.
Matt Heath: My parting message: Enjoy things while they are around
A lot of big, tragic and important things have happened to this wonderful country of ours since April 2014. None of which I have covered. I was too busy writing about hungover parenting, ancient philosophy and my dog Colin.
Out of the 536 columns I have written, 27 were about that guy. Far too few. He is such a good boy, he deserves an article a week.
Today is the end of an era for me, and whenever these final events pop up in our lives, we can’t help but think about the ultimate end.
Everything we do, we will one day do for the last time. That’s why you have to enjoy things while they are around. It’s not just big events like leaving a job, house or loved one either. Whatever moment you happen to be in now, you will never get it back, and you don’t know how many more you have.
Everything we do in life, from eating pizza to spending time with the people we love, to driving, writing, drinking or breathing, we will one day experience for the final time. It might happen tomorrow. This can be either a depressing or an inspiring thought, depending on how you look at it.
A few years back in this column, I interviewed professor of philosophy William B Irvine, of Wright State University, Ohio, on this very topic. He put it this way on a Zoom call: “Recognition of the impermanence of everything in life can invest the things we do with a significance and intensity that would otherwise be absent. The only way we can be truly alive is if we make it our business periodically to entertain thoughts of the end.”
Today’s column is very meaningful to me because it is my last. Like the last night with a lover before she goes overseas. And just like a lover, there have been some half-arsed efforts put in from me over the years. Last week, for example, I spent 750 words moaning about how bad my cricket team is. But the truth is that any of my columns could have been the final. If I had reminded myself every week for the past 10 years that the end is inevitable, I may have been more grateful for having a column and appreciated writing them all as much as I am this one.
While everything we do could have more meaning with a focus on finitude, some things are inherently more worthwhile than others. There is no doubt my column “The pros and cons of wearing Speedos” from November 2022 was less meaningful than most things in this world. That was a waste of everyone’s time. So, if we only have so much time, how do we pick the best things to do?
Well, Oliver Burkeman, the author of Four Thousand Weeks – Time Management For Mortals, suggested this to me in a 2022 column: “Ask yourself, does this choice enlarge me? You usually know on some unspoken level if it does. That’s a good way to distinguish between options.”
With that in mind, I don’t feel great about my 2018 article on “New Zealand’s best hole”. That didn’t enlarge anyone.
There will be people reading this column right now who have loved my writing in the Herald and are sad to see it end. Others will have hated it and are glad to see me go. Many won’t have any opinion at all. But for those in the first camp, I have good news. I have a book coming out on May 28 called A Life Less Punishing – 13 Ways To Love The Life You Got (Allen and Unwin Book Publishers). It’s a deep dive into the history, philosophy and science of not wasting our time lost in anger, loneliness, humiliation, stress, fear, boredom and all the other ways we find to not enjoy perfectly good lives. It’s available for pre-order right now (google it if you’re interested).
A Life Less Punishing took me two years to write and is equivalent in words to 100 of these columns. Which would be a complete nightmare for those in the hate camp, but as I say, great news for those who want more.
Anyway, thanks to the Herald for having me, thanks to the lovely people who make an effort to say nice things to me about my column nearly every day and thanks to the universe for every single second we get.
Bless!
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