Get your tissue boxes ready for this story. It’s one of the most touching love stories I’ve ever heard, and it features two Marines. Corporal Aaron Mankin was dating then Lance Corporal Diana Kavanek. Both had been deployed to Iraq. While Corporal Mankin was deployed, he was injured:

We were clearing houses and villages and pinching off the insurgency coming into Iraq from Syria when we rolled over an IED and our vehicle exploded literally 10 feet into the air. More fire came at us, and we thought we were under ambush, but it was our own munitions inside the vehicle cooking off—grenades, bullets, flares. I fell back inside the tank, and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was fire. My initial reaction was to gasp, and in doing so, I inhaled flames and smoke and pieces of burned uniform. My goggles and flak jacket protected my eyes and chest, but the rest of my upper body was on fire. I jumped out of the vehicle and tried to put myself out by rolling in the grass, but it was dry grass and it caught fire as I rolled in it. Four Marines died, 11 others were wounded. I was certain I was going to be among the dead. People say your life passes before you. For me, I saw the people who meant the most to me. My mom. My dad. I was only semiconscious. Then, my girlfriend Diana’s face popped into my head. I was thinking, These are my last thoughts. She is my last thought. And I focused on her face, because if I was going to die in war, I wanted to die with the thought of something worth fighting for, something worth dying for.

Instead, I woke up. The first time I saw Diana three months later, I asked her to marry me. I didn’t know what I was capable of as a husband or as a dad. I didn’t know what I could bring to the table besides a burned face and scarred arms. My ears, nose, and mouth were gone, as were the thumb and index finger of my right hand. When she said yes, it was a turning point for me. Even though I had a right to be bitter and curse the world, it wasn’t what Diana deserved. It wasn’t the man she fell in love with.

It was a month and a half before I was ready to look at myself in the mirror. Then one day, I got out of my hospital bed to go to physical therapy and I saw the mirror I’d passed countless times, refusing to see the truth about how hurt I was. I looked over my left shoulder, and there I was—this torn up, frail, thin individual with open wounds on his face that I barely recognized, and my worst imagination became my reality. I cried.

Being a Marine, you want to tell yourself you’re fine, just walk it off. But I couldn’t walk this one off. I covered the bottom half of my face with my elbow, and looking at my eyes and my forehead, I didn’t look any different. I knew inside I was still the same man. But not everyone would see that, and I was very concerned when Jake and Maggie, my little brother and sister, then 8 and 7, came to see me in the hospital. I was their big brother. I was in the Marine Corps. I was invincible. That’s how they saw me, but I didn’t know if they would see me that way anymore. So I asked Jake, “Do you still think Bubba (that’s what they call me) is as strong and fast and tough as you used to?” Jake didn’t think about it at all. He just said, “Yeah, I think so.” And I looked at myself, and I was bandaged up and breathing hard, and I said, “What makes you think that?” And he said back to me, “Well, they tried to blow you up, and they couldn’t.” I would love it if my daughter would see me that way one day, as “superhuman” in my ability to take care of her, and if she’s ever in harm’s way, there’s a cape to wrap her up and shield her. That cape is me.

Aaron and Diana are married now, with a little girl. This is their family portrait:

Can you think of two more heroic people than Aaron and Diana? Two people stronger, braver, more admirable? Their story brings tears to my eyes, and their love for each other and their courage inspires me. The heroes we have in our military are incredible, truly incredible, and Aaron and Diana are a shining example of that. Let us never forget it.

And with that… let us never forget to serve them in return. Project Valour-IT serves to help wounded warriors just like Aaron Mankin. You may wonder what it is that a laptop or a Wii or a GPS can do to help a soldier recover, and it may not seem like much. But you’d be surprised on how big of a difference it can be.

Voice activated laptops:

1. Help wounded vets connect with still-deployed fellow service members (relieve anxiety about how their friends are doing, allow them to maintain a support system)
2. Allow vets to stay in touch with loved ones who can’t be at their bedside
3. Run therapeutic computer programs that help restore brain/vision function,
4. Can be used to research treatments, keep track of treatment regimen.
5. Retrain for post-military employment
6. Voice control makes using a computer one of the first things they can do on their own

Wii uses:

1. Physical therapists in VA hospitals and major medical centers are using Wii fit systems with their patients
2. Motivation: Wii Sports games key into natural competitive nature
3. Track progress in a fun way

GPS uses:

1. For those with very severe PTSD or TBI (memory problems, high anxiety, etc), having a GPS increases independence and restores a sense of competence. Short-term memory problems can make it hard to navigate to new locations. A GPS can mean the difference between success and failure.

Project Valour-IT is a great charity, and we still need your donations and your help. Maybe you don’t go out to dinner this week, and you donate the $50 that you would’ve spent at Outback instead. Maybe instead of buying that twelve pack of beer to drink while you watch the game this weekend you donate $20. Every little bit counts. And, of course, you should make sure you donate to TEAM MARINES!

We’re still in the lead, but a few big donations could get the Army in the lead, and we don’t want that to happen.

Hat Tip: Villainous Company