Young Auburn couple survives harrowing car wreck

AUBURN, Wash. -- They say that love can conquer all, and at just 24-years old, Hannah Ackerman knows this all too well.

"I knew that there was something, like, really special about this relationship that I had never had before," Ackerman said, holding the hand of her fiance. "There's just something really special and unique."

Ackerman, of Auburn, met her fiance, Clayton Olander, at a bible study group several years ago. They found faith, then friendship -- and then something more.

"I knew (she was the one) after the time spent with her," Olander said, "and the motivation she has in life."

The couple got engaged last October and planned a wedding for August of this year. They were less than three weeks away from the big day, en route back from one of their final pre-marital counseling sessions, when the couple, united in love, were almost torn apart forever.

"I remember looking back at her before he hit us and just wondering if we were going to live or die," Olander said. "Just everything flashed before my eyes kind of at the moment."

Olander, who was driving his motorscooter, was thrown onto the road when the driver of a sedan turned in front of them at the intersection of 8th St. NE and Henry Road on July 30th, said Commander Mike Hirman with the Auburn Police Department.

"It was right in front of them so it was no chance to avoid it, and he had to lay (the bike) down," Hirman said.

Both the bride and groom-to-be were rushed to Harborview Medical Center. Olander, with a collapsed lung, broken ribs, a crushed pelvis, and more, was put on life support. Ackerman with a broken femur, shattered wrist, and elbow, needed additional medical attention. It would be three days of intensive care until the couple - placed in separate wards of the hospital - could be reunited again.

Their emotional reunion was videotaped by family and posted on Youtube, and has nearly 1,700 hits.

"(Clayton) still was connected to his IV and all this stuff and I could see all the road rash on his arm," Ackerman said of the moment she saw Olander for the first time. "It was kind of, like, hard because I saw the road that have to travel. We have a pretty long ways to go until we're back to normal again."

The couple - scheduled to be married this Sunday - made the tough decision to postpone their big day, trading in a wedding gown for matching wheelchairs, but still in good spirits. Their parents say the young couple wants to make sure they're able to walk down the aisle and have their first dance (which was always scheduled to be to Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up" - a song that now has added meaning, Ackerman said.)

"I'm okay with (postponing the wedding)," Olander said, holding the hand of his fiance. "I think there's a purpose for everything. There's gonna be some stuff to work through but it can be beautiful if you want it to be beautiful."