A Sunny Square

He is 36. She is 32.

Both soldiers. He served  in Afghanistan and she  in Iraq.

Corporal Hannah Campbell and Sergeant Rick Clement are dubbed the bravest couple in Britain.

When they were serving in the military, Rick was engaged to be married and Hannah was already a wife and mother.

Everything was going fine until Hannah was almost buried alive in a mortar blast and Rick lost half his body in a bomb blast.

Rick's one leg waa missing from the hip, the other torn off just a little lower. His genitals and bowel were damaged beyond repair. He lost  both his testicles. His pelvis was broken in two.

Hannah was  left  blind in one eye. Her abdomen was splintered by  shrapnel. Her left hand was  split into  two. And her left leg was completely shattered. ( Hannah would later undergo 18 operations before having her leg amputated).

Both  soldiers were flown back to their country.

They found themselves battling for life at the critical  care unit military wing of Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham in 2010.

Though Rick and Hannah never met each other while in the hospital,  their  parents met almost daily in the family room next to the ward.

Nobody expected the two to survive. But they  did.

And it was at the
rehabilitation centre that Rick and Hannah meet for the first time.

They were an encouragement  to each other. He would see Hannah trying to learn to walk in heels and tease her about it.

And she would be encouraged to do better whenever she saw Rick,  considered to be Britain's first soldier to be so greviously injured and survive.

They were in committed relationships with other people. They  were also busy trying to put their broken lives back together.

They were friends. Nothing more.

Soon they went their separate ways and lost touch  with each other.

Hannah’s husband nursed her through her injuries and was with her every step of the way.

Rick's fiancee was a diligent caregiver and a loving partner who saw him through the most difficult phase in his life.

However, during the course of loving and living their lives, the dynamics of their  relationships changed.

It morphed into a loving platonic relationship and finally led to separation and divorce.

Hannah went on to write a book Never Broken.

Rick  became a charity campaigner.

They tried to date different people, but the dates could never look beyond the disabilities of Rick and Hannah.

It was during this time that Rick reconnected with Hannah over Facebook.

He also read her book.

Soon they began chatting.  Which later turned into flirting. And before long they found themselves falling in love.

In an intervie with DailyMail Rick says: ‘The past few years have been hard. We’ve both been blown up and had to overcome life-changing injuries. Yet here we are today, sharing how much we feel about each other. We are both pretty confident that this is going to last. We’re getting used to the fact we’ve got someone to trust and lean on after being on our own. Who knows what we’ll go on to achieve and do together in our future. All I can say is that love really does conquer all."

It does and it gives hope to the rest of the world.  

Image courtesy : Daily Mail