As Chris Good watched his wife — motionless in her hospital bed and only kept alive by medical machinery — he worried she may never wake.

During the long hours spent at her side in constant prayer, sweet memories from their lives together came to him. But he wasn’t just worried about her dying — he worried even if she eventually woke she wouldn’t remember their lives together, including their five children.

Miria Good was in a coma and barely hanging on to life after suffering severe head injuries while working in the warehouse at one of the couple’s businesses. She almost died in Chris’ arms on the cement floor at Western Pyro Enterprises just east of Garland.

“I picked her up and took her to the door. But I noticed she was foaming at the mouth. So I set her back down and she started breathing again,” he said, tears welling in his eyes.

While help was on the way, he didn’t think they would make it in time. 

“We picked her back up, put her in the pickup and then headed to town, meeting the ambulance halfway.”

The emergency medical technicians stabilized Miria and then she was taken by helicopter to Billings. 

“At that point, we had no idea if she would live. She was moving around weirdly, but her eyes were closed and she was moaning,” Chris said. “There were no responses to us at all.”

Miria spent 25 days in the ICU. They eventually removed the intubation tubes, gave her a feeding tube and moved her to a room. She laid there non-responsive with her eyes wide open.

“There was nothing there,” Chris said. “She was looking right at me, but with just two black holes looking through me.”

There was nothing more medical teams could do other than wait and pray. Chris told his children their mother’s life was in God’s hands. “Thy will be done,” they prayed.

Chris couldn’t help but think of the care Miria had taken with him while the situation was reversed. He laid in a hospital bed fighting for his life just a couple years before her accident. He was welding and there was an explosion. He had life-threatening burns to his torso, hands and arms. 

As Chris watched over his wife, he remembered her gentle touch, her kindness and her strength. She kept the family together and their businesses afloat. Payroll had to continue for their employees and bills had to be paid. Chris was flown to the University of Utah Health Care’s Intermountain Burn Center. She couldn’t be there every day and still keep the businesses running. The family stepped up when they were needed, Miria said.

After nearly six weeks in a coma and suffering from the effects of swelling on her brain, Miria finally started to come around. She was different, Chris said. 

“She would never say my name, but she would talk about a cousin that she hadn’t talked to for 25 years.”

Miria had reverted to a wonderful time in her life when she was about 10 years old. She didn’t remember the accident. Chris was running for a seat as a state representative at the time of the accident, but dropped out of the legislative race to be there for Miria. 

While she wouldn’t say his name, she said she always knew who her husband was. 

“I felt like I knew him the whole time. But I mean, I guess I don’t remember what happened at that time,” Miria said.

When their adult children arrived to see Miria for the first time since she woke up, she seemed to recognize them, Chris said, “but not in a way that they understood she knew that they were there.”

Miria was eventually moved to Craig Hospital, a world-renowned facility for rehabilitation from traumatic brain injury. Again, business had to be taken care of. Family members again stepped up so Chris could be there for his wife as much as possible. 

Frustratingly, this all happened while COVID-19 was a controlling issue on visitations. Yet Chris was determined to be with Miria. Slowly, she began remembering the past and realized what had happened. She also finally truly recognized her husband and she was touched by his care and concern. It has changed how she looks at him, she said.

“I feel like I think more about him now more than I ever did before because he took such good care of me,” she said.

The vows they made when they married mean so much more now: To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.

They have both had recent brushes with death. Sickness can stress a relationship — differently from the ordeal of having five children, two businesses and a short list of major life issues and disappointments. They have come out the other side with more respect and commitment in their 30th year.

“It’s all about love, commitment, and devotion,” Chris said when prodded for the secret to his and Miria’s marriage. 

Yet, after some debate, the two of them agreed that a successful marriage depends on communication. Even if that means arguing; just get it out and get past it, they insist.

They spend almost every minute of every day together. The couple’s desks in their shared office face each other. They go home together to the family they started and share everything together. Then they get up the next day and do it all over again.

“When you go to sleep with your business partner, it puts a whole different spin on the marriage and relationship,” Chris said.

Despite the many complications, they have made it work. 

“Get rid of the distractions,” Chris said. “You never know when tragedy is near. There’s plenty of that in the world. Don’t bring it on yourself,” he added.

Miria said it’s not as simple as it sounds, but it all comes down to love. 

“Love who you fall in love with,” she said.