Couple Who Survived Serious Car Accident Gets Engaged in Hospital ICU: 'Love Wins'
Elliot Griffiths and Zak Nelson of Norwich, England, were involved in a head-on collision just hours after they arrived in Iceland for a vacation
One British couple turned a harrowing ordeal into something to celebrate — an engagement!
Elliot Griffiths and Zak Nelson of Norwich, England, had just arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, on April 19 when they were involved in a head-on collision in their rental car, as Nelson explained in a video he posted on TikTok.
"I'm in Iceland on what was meant to be the last day of a holiday. A nice trip, Elliot and I renting a car, driving around the entire country seeing all sorts of things," a visibly emotional Nelson recounted, explaining that they landed and spent a few hours exploring before calling it a day.
"About 4:15 p.m. driving towards our accommodation for the night, some twonk decided that they were going to pull out and overtake a van whilst we were driving towards them," he continued. "They appeared out of nowhere and smashed into us head on, and I was doing about 55 miles per hour at the time."
"We are lucky to be alive, when you see the picture of the car," Nelson later told BBC Radio Norfolk.
Nelson explained in his video that Griffiths had to undergo emergency surgery due to "internal bleeding" while he himself was left with bad bruising, which he showed in a follow-up video on TikTok. He said he was discharged from the hospital two days after the accident, while Griffiths continued to recover.
In a third TikTok video, which featured the hashtag "Love Wins" in the caption, Nelson shared the happy news that the couple had gotten engaged at the hospital. As he sat by a smiling Griffiths' bed, he first gave an update on his new fiancé's health.
"See Elliot is here, he's doing well. He's off the tubes and things," he said. "And we thought we'd share some happy news."
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He then recounted how the spontaneous proposal unfolded. "When we were in the ICU on Friday, we didn't know about each [other's condition]," he said.
"And then the nurses pushed us together for the brief period of time we were in ICU together. And you asked me a question, didn't you? What did you ask me?" Nelson continued, turning to look at Griffiths.
As they both smiled and laughed, Nelson recalled, "He asked me to marry him and I said yes, there in ICU, and all the nurses clapped."
Related: Couple Gets Married in Hospital After Groom Is Unexpectedly Admitted on Their Wedding Day
Nelson said they shared the engagement because they wanted to show that "there's some good news to come out of our trip after all."
He also revealed that he did a little shopping while Griffiths remains in the hospital. "I've now gone and bought him a ring from Iceland," Nelson said, panning the camera to give a close-up look at the silver band etched with a "dragon pattern" on Griffiths' finger.
"So he's officially mine," Nelson declared as he concluded the video by thanking people for their prayers and messages of support following the accident and vowing that the couple would return to Iceland for a vacation do-over some time in the future.
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