CELEBRITY
Couple Had to Fall Back in Love After He Lost His Memories in an Accident: ‘An Insane Situation’ (Exclusive)
Even the night Cody Bryant and Haley Woloshen first met while on vacation in Hawaii sounds like something out of a movie — and one with plenty of twists and turns.
On Aug. 6, 2022, Bryant was visiting Maui with friends and she was with family. They crossed paths at a Lahaina bar and discovered they both lived in tiny Hermosa Beach near Los Angeles. They laughed at the coincidence and then spent much of the evening together, swimming in the ocean and watching a meteor shower.
“We were like, ‘This is amazing. What a story,’ “ Bryant, 35, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview for this week’s issue. “We were not expecting it to turn into something wild from there.”
Wild is an understatement.
Their spark in Hawaii quickly turned into a casual but growing relationship back home as they bonded over shared interests like travel and outdoor sports. There was supposed to be a brief pause when Bryant, a residential videographer and frequent adventurer, went on a planned trip in Spain.
“I dropped him off at the airport and expected to pick him up again when he got back,” Woloshen, 28, who works for a medical device software start-up, tells PEOPLE. “We were texting after he got there and then suddenly — nothing.”
What Woloshen didn’t know was that on Sept. 6, 2022, exactly a month to the day after their first meeting, Bryant was riding a moped in Ibiza when he was struck by a car. He suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him in a coma and stole many of his memories, including all of his time spent with Woloshen except their first Maui meeting.