Woman Marries Man Who Sustained a Concussion and Forgot They Broke Up 7 Months Earlier (Exclusive)

• Jenna and Mitchell Brotherson got married on Sept. 4, 2020, in Draper, Utah
• Seven months before they wed, Jenna broke up with Mitchell, who sustained a concussion the next day and didn’t remember their conversation
• When Jenna asked to get back together with Mitchell the month after his ski accident, she realized he had “no clue” they weren’t together

The day after a woman broke up with her boyfriend, he sustained a concussion and forgot their split happened. Seven months later, they said, “I do.”

When Jenna and Mitchell Brotherson married in September 2020, no one would have known that they had split seven months before — including the groom. The day after Jenna broke up with Mitchell because she was “too overwhelmed with life,” he got into a ski accident that left him severely concussed.

Back in February 2020, Mitchell, who was 22 at the time, was attempting to do a flip at Utah’s Beaver Mountain when he landed wrong, hitting his head. He blacked out and woke up while paramedics were taking him down the hill, completely unaware of what was happening.

 A concussed Mitchell Brotherson smiles. PHOTO: Courtesy of Jenna and Mitchell Brotherson

Mitchell Brotherson in the hospital after his ski accident. PHOTO: Courtesy of Jenna and Mitchell Brotherson

“He was going off a jump and it was super icy. His feet went in front of him and so he went off the jump and landed on his head,” Jenna tells PEOPLE. “It was a pretty severe concussion. He ended up failing most of his courses that semester and had to take a leave of absence after that to help his brain heal.”

Mitchell’s concussion significantly impacted his memory, causing him to forget his breakup with Jenna entirely.

At the hospital, he called who he thought was still his girlfriend, also then 22, to pick him up because he couldn’t drive.

@jennabrotherson Replying to @val 🧜🏼‍♀️ the concussion story time!! #love #grwm #relationship #breakup ♬ original sound – Jenna Brotherson

“I’m like, ‘Why is he messaging me this? I just broke up with him,'” Jenna recalls in a video posted to TikTok.

She continues to PEOPLE, “Mitch kept messaging me and trying to hang out after his concussion and I was confused as to why he would keep messaging me because we had broken up. I thought that maybe he took the statement of staying friends really seriously. It even was to the point when I told him that my roommates and I had a hard day and he came and brought us ice cream.”

Jenna almost immediately regretted her decision to break up with Mitchell because he had been so “kind and thoughtful” of her feelings during their conversation and “just tried to help” her work through the difficulties of her life “instead of being upset or mean.” So, she reevaluated their breakup in March 2020 while on vacation for spring break.

“I was nervous to swallow my pride and ask if he would date again,” says Jenna, who received a text from Mitchell to hang out the day she returned.

“After hanging out with friends we chatted in the evening and I asked to get back together with him. That was when I realized he had no clue we even broke up,” Jenna tells PEOPLE.

She continues, “I told him about how we were in my car and what I said to him and what he said back. He told me he didn’t remember any of that except for chatting in the car. But he didn’t remember what we chatted about. He thought it was super funny and I was relieved. It made it easy to get back together because to him, we never weren’t together!”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Five months later, on Aug. 18, 2020, Mitchell proposed to Jenna at Big Cottonwood Canyon, where he first told her he loved her. Less than three weeks later, they married in Draper, Utah on Sept. 4, 2020.

“During my husband’s speech, he brought up not remembering the break up but how he is so grateful that it all worked out in the end,” Jenna recalls. “We are both 27 now and when people ask us about our love story it’s our favorite part to tell. We really felt invisible strings pulling us together all along.”

The couple first met in June 2019 while Mitchell was on a date with someone else.

“He was dating one of my friends when I met him at a drive-in movie theater,” Jenna says. “They eventually broke up over the summer, and by January, Mitch and I were dating. It was great to be friends for seven or eight months before we started to date because I got to know him so well.”