Couple who met after waking from comas gets engaged at same Minnesota hospital years later

27 Nov 2025 By foxnews

Years after waking up from separate comas and meeting inside a Minnesota hospital, Zach Zarembinski brought Isabelle Richard back to the place where their story began - this time to pop the question.

"I was surprised, definitely. I kind of knew [it would happen], but I didn't at the same time," Richard shared Wednesday on "America's Newsroom."

"I was like getting ready in the morning, I'm like, 'It could happen today, but I don't think it is, because he can't keep secrets,'" she added with a laugh.

Zarembinski convinced Richard to return to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, by telling her he'd gotten permission to film an episode of their podcast, "Hope in Healing," The New York Post reported.

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Video of the emotional proposal shows Zarembinski guiding Richard to the area where he first met her family in November 2018, shortly after waking from his coma.

Moments later, he dropped to one knee. As he asked, "Will you marry me?" a white backdrop behind them fell away, revealing a massive heart made of flowers framing the proposal in scripted letters.

Richard said, "Yes."

The couple first met at Regions Hospital in 2018, where both were patients recovering from traumatic injuries.

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At 18, Zarembinski had suffered a brain bleed and collapsed on the sideline of a football game. Richard, meanwhile, suffered a severe head injury related to a car accident not long after.

While Richard remained unconscious, Zarembinski comforted her family by assuring them she would be okay.

"I just felt like I knew [she would be okay]. My spirit told me she's gonna be okay," he said.

When Richard awoke from her coma, the two spoke briefly and took a photo together. They then went without contact for six years until their mothers organized a dinner between their families, leading them to exchange numbers and begin dating.

"I knew she was the one…" Zarembinski said, telling guest host Molly Line he had looked back through his journal and found where he recorded their first date.

"We connected from the first moment we met. Our spirits were meant to be," he added.