⚠️This fact has been debunked
No credible news sources or documentation found for 'Gary Richmond' story from 2010. The story appears to be a viral social media narrative without verifiable origins. However, similar real cases exist with documented couples (Angela and Jaff Hartung, Laura and Brayden Faganello) who fell in love again after traumatic brain injuries caused amnesia.
In 2010, Gary Richmond was beaten into a coma. He woke up with amnesia and no memory of his wife of 20 years. Subsequently, he ended up falling in love with her all over again!
The Truth About Couples Falling in Love Again After Amnesia
You've probably seen the heartwarming story circulating online: Gary Richmond gets beaten into a coma in 2010, wakes up with amnesia, can't remember his wife of 20 years, and then falls in love with her all over again. It's the kind of story that restores your faith in humanity—except there's one problem. It never happened.
Despite appearing on countless fact-sharing sites and Pinterest boards, there's zero evidence that Gary Richmond exists. No news reports from 2010. No hospital records. No follow-up interviews. The story is a modern myth, likely created to inspire social media engagement.
But Here's the Twist: The Real Stories Are Even Better
While Gary Richmond may be fictional, the phenomenon of falling in love again after amnesia is absolutely real. And the documented cases are just as incredible as any viral post.
In 2013, Angela Sartin-Hartung was struck by a car in Oklahoma after 12 years of marriage to Jaff Hartung. The traumatic brain injury erased every memory of him. When she woke from her medically induced coma, she thought she was still married to her first husband—who had died in 1998. Jaff was a complete stranger to her.
Doctors told them the memories might never return. But Jaff didn't give up. He courted his own wife from scratch, dating her like they'd just met. Five years later, in June 2018, they renewed their vows in Central Park—Angela choosing to love a man she couldn't remember but had grown to love again.
Love as a Choice, Not Just a Memory
Laura Faganello's story follows a similar path. In 2017, a massive pole fell on her head while she was preparing for an event in Canada. The brain injury wiped out her memories of husband Brayden entirely.
Two years later, Laura announced on Facebook that she was engaged—to the same man. "I've learned that love is a choice, and I am choosing to love Brayden," she wrote. They planned to remarry in July 2020, on what would have been their fourth anniversary.
- Angela Sartin-Hartung: Hit by car (2013), remarried husband after 5 years
- Laura Faganello: Head injury from falling pole (2017), re-engaged after 2 years
- Scott (CBS News): Workplace fall caused retrograde amnesia, forgot 25-year marriage
Why the Fake Story Spreads
The Gary Richmond myth persists because it taps into something we desperately want to believe: that true love transcends even catastrophic brain damage. The irony? The real stories prove exactly that—we just got the names wrong.
These couples demonstrate that love isn't just neural pathways and stored memories. When Angela looked at Jaff, she didn't remember their wedding or their 12 years together. But she saw someone who showed up every day, who was patient and kind, who was worth falling for all over again.
That's not the stuff of viral fiction. That's the messy, beautiful reality of love as an active choice rather than a passive feeling. The real couples didn't just "fall in love again" automatically—they chose it, day after difficult day.
So no, Gary Richmond didn't wake up from a coma and magically rediscover his wife. But Angela, Laura, and Scott? They're living proof that something even better exists: the deliberate reconstruction of love from nothing but commitment and time.