What's the most heartwarming story that you've ever heard? One that instantly felt unreal, and even brought tears to your eyes? Well, grab some tissues, because this story just might become that one. Kristen Armstrong has been open about her journey of caring for her former husband, who suffered a brain injury. But here's the catch: her new husband also cares for him, and they have completely integrated him into their lives.
Kristen and her former husband, Brandon Smith, were high school sweethearts. They had been married for two years, when in 2008, she received a call that changed their entire lives. Brandon had been T-boned by a commercial truck. He was 23 and she was 24 at the time of the accident.
“They couldn’t tell me if he was alive or not,” the 38-year-old shared. “I remember asking my mom, ‘What will I do if Brandon is gone?’" Brandon was placed in the neuro trauma intensive care unit because he had suffered a brain injury. He spent the next two months in a coma.
Doctors warned Kristen that if he ever did wake up, he wouldn't be the same. "I held onto hope that a miracle would happen and he’d be the same Brandon,” she shared. “But he wasn’t."
After coming to terms with the fact that Brandon would never be the same, Kristen faced some very hard emotions. "Every morning I woke up and I was hit by this train of sadness. He was my soulmate, my best friend. I was grieving a living person, and that was very complicated and isolating.” She still dreamed of having children, which led her to make a heart-wrenching decision to file for divorce.
However, Kristen filed to become Brandon's legal guardian. “I had a lot of talks with God, and I decided I was going to take care of Brandon until the day he died." She remarried to her now husband, James Armstrong in 2015. He already had a son, and the couple ended up having two more kids. They are in charge of care for Brandon, calling him an "integral part of our family."
“We bring Brandon to our house every week and we take him out to restaurants," Kristen shared. “What makes it really beautiful is how much my family has accepted Brandon as a part of their family.”
On Kristen's TikTok account, she shares videos showing the relationship between James and Brandon, as well as their three kids. “The first time James met Brandon, we went to church,” she said. “I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back, James’s arm was around Brandon.” James included Brandon in his wedding vows, saying that he would love and care for him.
Many people have been moved by the story.
"You could have left and never looked back, you held on to your vows not in the traditional way but in your unique amazing way.. I applaud you," one person shared.
Another wrote, "Oh my sweet woman you’re amazing."
