GAIL DRAKE: For better or worse; in sickness and in health

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9

March 17, 2017. Laura Browning Grant was on the phone with her husband, Jonny, when he told her about the fire set ablaze in downtown Raleigh, N.C. Jonny Grant was serving as a combat medic instructor at nearby Fort Bragg.

“I’m going to try to help out,” he told his wife, and he headed toward the fire with his friend. Laura went to bed, as she owned and managed her own pilates studio.

Around 2 a.m. the phone rang. Jon had been a passenger in an accident, flipped over, and hit a tree. The driver walked away from the scene. Jonny was “unresponsive.” Laura needed to come to the emergency room as soon as possible.

Jonathan Grant, 36, had earned his Navy SEAL Trident in 2007 and had served three overseas deployments with the Navy. He was the picture of health and fitness. Now he was in the emergency room, covered in blood. The hospital staff talked to her about donating his organs. The doctors gave him a 10% chance of surviving.

Laura whispered in her husband’s ear, “If it hurts too bad, I understand if you have to go. Don’t hold on for me.” Then she experienced a peace from God.

Jon had suffered a severe brain injury called diffuse axonal injury (DAI) that left him in a coma for two months. “He had shearing of his whole brain, meaning his whole brain just shook” with tears and bleeding throughout the brain. The hospital staff was waiting for Jon to “emerge” and show signs of life. Every time Laura walked in the room, his heart rate soared.

Because of her pilates training, Laura knew that Jon needed motion and stimulation. She stayed bedside, straightened his spine, and massaged his legs and feet. He started to show motion in his eyes, the flicker of a toe, then moved his hand, showing an emerging consciousness.

Determined there was more, she prayed to God for wisdom and followed her gut. Many times she was told he would not recover, but she refused to engage in the negative. She wanted her husband to “feel clarity, peace and joy,” and know that he was loved. She stayed by her husband’s side, daily trying different therapy techniques, and filled his days with laughter.

On July 11, 2024, she posted on Facebook a special therapy session. “Too special not to share.” With the assistance of a physical therapist, Jon stood upright from his wheelchair. He reached over and kissed his wife, then leaned his head on her shoulder.

“It felt like home,” Laura said, “like our first dance at our wedding.” The video has since been watched by millions of viewers. Thousands have left words of awe and encouragement.

Now, nearly four years later, progress and healing are happening.

“The human brain has an amazing ability to heal itself with time, but in Jon’s case, God’s healing hand is clearly evident,” Laura said. “Jon is a warrior, a fighter. He’s a Navy SEAL.”

Jon is now able to move his limbs, feed himself, and talk in sentences. Last Valentine’s Day, he read a card to her.

“This is not our story to tell,” Laura’s website says. “It is a story from God through us. We are the vessel. Love is always the answer. God is love.”

Laura Grant, a stunningly beautiful and accomplished professional, took her vows and her God seriously. She stayed by her husband’s side. For better, for worse; in sickness and in health. In a world of noise and chaos, a young bride displayed an amazing example of self-sacrificial love.