(upbeat music)
My name's Aaron Hale and I joined the military in 1999.
I loved cooking in the military.
I was cooking for a three-star admiral and his top brass.
It was a great experience.
By about 2004,
I wanted to have a more direct role in the effort.
So I requested to become an EOD technician.
EOD or Explosive Ordnance Disposal
is the military's bomb squad.
And I deployed to Afghanistan.
About eight months into this 12 month rotation,
I got to go home right about Thanksgiving,
a two week vacation.
You know, flew back to Afghanistan.
My team picked me up in our armored truck
and we drove from the airfield.
And along the way,
the patrol leader called back
from the front of the convoy
and said, "There's a roadside bomb up ahead
that's been found."
So we pulled up our truck and we got to work.
The robot did its thing.
And it separated the pieces of this bomb
so it wouldn't work.
And then it was my job as safely as possible
to collect as much evidence as I could
and then dispose of the rest by detonating it.
I started making my way towards the site
and there was a secondary device
that hadn't yet been detected.
That detonated and just punted me into the air.
I landed on my knees and elbows
and I got twisted around
and the lights were out.
And I thought at first that my helmet
had just gotten pushed over my face.
I went to fix my helmet and got back to work
and I'm like this,
just to discover that the helmet was gone
and my life had been changed forever.
(upbeat music)
I decided then and there
that I wasn't gonna feel sorry for myself.
And if I was gonna to be blind for the rest of my life,
I was going to be the best darn blind guy I could be.
So I got up,
I started running.
I ran marathon after marathon.
I was learning how to live my best life.
And in 2015,
I was having, like, the most epic summer ever.
I'd go on hunting in Texas.
I climbed three 14,000 foot peaks
in Colorado in a single day.
And then I also had a fantastic week long first date
with McKayla.
And I start feeling very dizzy,
very fatigued,
and I didn't know what was going on,
but I woke up with this,
it's like a soul crushing pain.
And within moments I realized I needed to call 911.
The cracks in my skull that were patched four years earlier
had either reopened or maybe not completely patched.
And I had contracted bacterial meningitis.
It was stealing what was left of my hearing
that the bomb blast hadn't taken.
So I was gonna to be totally blind and totally deaf.
McKayla had nursed me back to health in the hospital
and essentially moved in.
I could regain some of my hearing
through the cochlear implants.
However,
it would take over six months before I would hear anything,
and almost a year until I could actually hold a conversation
and actually understand another human voice.
(upbeat music)
Thanksgiving was coming.
And I was determined not to feel sorry for myself.
We invited family from all corners of the country.
I started making cakes and pies and cookies and everything.
I started making batch after batch of fudge
and McKayla noticed two things.
One, I was smiling for the first time in about six months,
and two, the fudge was piling up.
I mean, there was so much fudge.
So that's how McKayla and I
started our own confection company.
EOD fudge or Extra Ordinary Delights.
We've certainly grown since then.
And it's doing very well.
That silver lining type lesson
where every challenge is an opportunity
and that life is always worth living.
(audience clapping)
I told you.
(audience clapping and cheering)
Very Important Veteran, VIV.
Just like EOD now has a new meaning.
I love this couple so much,
Extra Ordinary Delights,
you are as human beings.
(audience clapping)
You have a standing ovation by the way.
(audience clapping and cheering)
They're happy tears they swear.
(audience clapping and cheering)
(graphic whooshing)
(audience clapping and cheering)
(graphic whooshing)