When it comes to falling in love, we are visual creatures. Whether it’s falling in love with that chocolate molten lava cake they just brought to the table next to you, or with the attractive stranger standing in front of you in the grocery checkout line, we make decisions with our eyes first. It’s easy to recognize beauty and fall in love with it, especially when beauty is in the form of a person.
Falling in love with someone’s beauty is only the surface layer. It takes falling in love with their personality, their passions, their likes and their dislikes to truly fall in love with the person that they are. People are more than just a pretty face, they are a soul. Every little detail that makes them who they are is something to fall in love with.
Before a devastating accident destroyed every recognizable trace of her radiant appearance, Michael Hoskin fell in love with a beautiful woman. Even though she no longer looks like the woman he fell in love with, Michael had bigger reasons than beauty for staying with his now-wife, Turia Pitt.
Two years ago, the couple announced the exciting news of their pregnancy on 60 minutes Australia. The responsibility of becoming parents is often one of “the most difficult things” some people will take on. But for Turia and Michael, who have been through the most unthinkable traumatic experiences together, they expect this journey of parenthood to be a lot of “fun.
And the arrival of sweet Hakavai has been nothing short of that!
As it should be—especially for this couple who defied all odds. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of such an amazing blessing.
freak accident during an ultra-marathon through the Australian Outback left 65 percent of Turia’s body covered in extreme burns.
Just hours into the race, Turia’s boyfriend, Michael Hoskin, received a phone call informing him that she had been injured. A wild brushfire had started along her route and Turia found herself trapped in the flames. She struggled to stay conscious after excruciating burns literally cooked more than 65 percent of her body.
Upon arriving by helicopter to the emergency unit at an Australian hospital, Turia’s face had swelled to more than double its size. She spent the next month comatose, in intensive care. It was during that time that Michael bought an engagement ring, and promised himself, “If she lives, I’ll marry her.”
Turia spent the next two years in the hospital undergoing extensive reconstructive surgeries, and intense physiotherapy. She had five of her fingers amputated, and she wore a compression mask designed to smooth scars and promote healing. Throughout her medical journey, Michael took on the role of being Turia’s full-time caretaker. He never left her side, and he cheered her on through even the smallest hurdles.
“If she can walk in agony and…do all the physio they’re asking her, I can be there in the morning and give her breakfast and be there all the time,” he said. “That’s easy for me.”
Someone made the mistake of asking if he’d ever thought of leaving, and his response is beyond mic-drop awesome.
“I was attracted to her soul, and her character,” he explained. “She’s the only woman that will continue to fulfill my dreams.”
He loved Turia for her personality first, and that’s something that she intends to never lose.
In July of 2015, Michael made good on his promise and proposed to Turia in the Maldives. The couple married in 2016.
Now, after they’ve welcomed a baby into the world, the happy couple says they’re “stoked” for the journey of parenthood.
“It just makes me really stoked that I’m still here, ’cause I get to experience this,” Turia says of being a mother. “And not every woman in the world gets to experience this. I’m still here and I get to do this journey with my best friend.”
Beyond that, Turia is continuing to defy the odds by participating in marathons again, after doctors said she’d NEVER run again
Through several interviews with a focus on her survival, love, trials, and beauty, Turia has made one thing clear: Michael’s unwavering love for her, despite the way she looks now, is what saved her life after unthinkable tragedy. Today we celebrate life with this beautiful couple.
