When Emily meets her doctor, she gets devastating news about her health. As her life is about to change, Emily knows she has to tell Tyler, her husband. But his reaction is anything but appropriate.
The first thing I noticed was the doctor’s voice on the other end of the line, a steady, clinical tone delivering a piece of news that would change my life forever.
“I need you to come in, Emily,” Dr. Duncan said grimly.
Which led to my visit with him today.
“Emily, can I just be real with you?” Dr. Duncan asked.
“Of course,” I said, although my hands were shaking uncontrollably.
I was nervous beyond anything. After weeks of not feeling good, I knew that something was wrong. And this was the defining moment. Dr. Duncan was going to tell me the results of all the tests we had been doing.
“Give it to me straight, Doc,” I said. “I’d rather know now than keep pretending that everything is fine.”
“Emily, you have Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. It’s a rare neurological disorder that affects motor skills. Over time, you may find that walking will become more challenging, and it’s likely that you’ll need some form of mobility support.”
“What is it?” I asked. “Please, explain more. Help me understand. Please…”
Dr. Duncan smiled sadly.
“Sure, Emily,” he said. “To put it simply, this disease is a group of inherited disorders that cause nerve damage. This damage mostly affects arms and legs, which is why I need you to know that loss of mobility is high.”
I sat there, numb, barely able to grasp the words. I was 29. I thought I had all the time in the world. I wanted kids, but how could I consider that now? When there was a possibility that I would be wheelchair-bound?
I didn’t know how to process it. And then, the reality of having to tell my husband, Tyler, hit me even harder.
How would he react? And what if he couldn’t handle it?
I left the doctor’s room, choosing to walk through the park. I wanted to feel the fresh air on my face. I wanted to walk through the grass and kick the leaves. I wanted to do the simple things that could be taken away from me in the months or years ahead.
That night, I finally worked up the nerve to tell him. I waited until after dinner, having cooked his favorite meal, hoping to catch him in a relaxed mood. But even as I poured my heart out to him, he was half-watching the football game on TV.
“Tyler, could you turn that off for a second?” I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady. “I really need to talk to you about something important, darling.”
He rolled his eyes but picked up the remote with one hand, holding his can of beer in the other.
“Alright, Em, what’s so serious?” he asked.
I took a deep breath.
“I went to the doctor last week, and we’ve been running tests. I just haven’t been feeling good, but I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. I went back to Dr. Duncan today, and we found something.”
“What?” he asked. “What did you find? What’s wrong?”
“It’s a neurological condition, and he said that it might make it harder for me to walk in the future,” I swallowed, bracing myself.
“Eventually, I might not be able to walk at all.”
My husband’s face froze, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw worry in his eyes. But then something shifted, a flash of something I’d never seen before.
Disgust.
“Are you kidding me?” he scoffed, putting down his can on the coffee table. “Is this an attention thing, Emily?”
“No,” I said simply.
We were both quiet for a while.
“So… you’re just… you’re going to be some invalid that I have to take care of? Push you around on a wheelchair?”
His words cut through me like a knife. I could barely believe what I was hearing.
“Tyler, I don’t know if it’ll be that bad. We can meet with the doctor together and find out more. We can see how long I have before I should expect symptoms. I’m sure that there are treatments I can try…”
He held up his hand.
“Stop, Emily,” he said. “I didn’t sign up to be anyone’s nurse. I married someone who was fun and vibrant. A woman who would dance at bars and pubs until it was closing time. I didn’t marry someone who’s just going to sit at home all day.”
“You’d leave me because I’m sick?” I asked, barely able to get the words out.
My voice sounded strange to me, hollow and unfamiliar.
“Don’t twist this around on me,” he snapped. “You know what I mean. I have needs too, Emily. I need a real partner. I’m not going to stick around just to take care of you.”
He went upstairs, and I didn’t see him for the rest of the night. Instead, I went to the guest room and cried myself to sleep.
Honestly, was this the man I married? Tyler had never disappointed me before, but this? This was… unforgivable.
The next morning, he packed a bag, leaving a note on the kitchen counter.
Need some time to think.
That was it. No goodbye, no apology. Nothing.
I didn’t hear from him for days. It was like he’d cut me out of his life without a second thought.
I tried to distract myself, to cope, but every little thing in the house reminded me of the life I thought we’d been building together. I started to pack some of Tyler’s things away.
“So, where is he now?” my sister, Audrey, asked when she visited me.
“I have no idea,” I said, opening the box of chocolates she had brought. “I texted his brother to see if he was there, but Kevin said that he hadn’t seen or heard from him.”
“Tell me that you’re not trying to make things work with him, Emily,” Audrey said. “Because I won’t allow it.”
“I’m not,” I said. “It’s just that I want to see him to end this. I want him to know how much he has hurt and disappointed me. I want him to hear it from my lips.”
Audrey nodded.
“Look, whatever happens, I’ve got you. Our family has you,” she said, smiling.
Later that day, while I sat in bed, eating the rest of the chocolates from the box, I scrolled through my phone. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
There, available for the public to see, I saw a post that made my stomach drop. There Tyler was, tagged in a friend’s photo, smiling on the beach with some blonde woman leaning into him, both of them holding cocktails.
He looked happy. Carefree. It was as if I’d already become a distant memory to him.
I lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling.
The anger, the heartbreak, the reality of his disease… it was all just so overwhelming. But then, somewhere deep inside me, something shifted.
I was done crying. I was done feeling bad. I was done feeling like a victim in my own life. I had no idea what was coming next, but whatever it was, I was going to face it on my terms.
Then, the unexpected happened.
A week after Tyler left, my doctor called, sounding flustered and apologetic.
“Emily, I’m so sorry. We’ve made a terrible mistake!” Dr. Duncan said.
“What? What do you mean?” I asked.
“It turns out that your test results were mixed up with another patient’s. You’re healthy. We just need to focus on your calcium levels.”
“What?” I repeated.
“You’re okay. You’re better than okay! And listen, I understand how traumatic the past two weeks have been. So, I’m going to offer you free counseling sessions until you feel okay. I can’t imagine your mental state. If you want it, I’ll do the referral and take care of everything else.”
I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
Relief washed over me, flooding my senses, but it was quickly overtaken by something else.
A simmering, white-hot anger.
Tyler had left me over nothing. All that pain, all that heartbreak… none of it had been necessary. And what did that say about him?
I hung up, already scheduling an appointment with Dr. Duncan to sort out my calcium issues. I felt a strange mix of freedom and clarity. This wasn’t just about me being healthy.
My husband had shown me who he truly was, and there was no going back. I imagined him sitting on the beach, looking at the water and doing everything but care about me.
About two weeks later, life threw me yet another twist.
My grandmother passed away, leaving Audrey and me with everything she had. Before I knew it, a substantial inheritance was in my bank account.
My gran had always been there for Audrey and me, encouraging us to live our lives how we wanted. Now, with this money, I could finally break free from the life I’d been clinging to. I wasn’t just healthy. I was independent. I had the resources to build a life that was entirely my own.
Without Tyler.
Then, like clockwork, Tyler came crawling back.
One evening, there was a knock on my door. I opened it to find a disheveled Tyler holding a half-wilted bouquet of grocery store flowers. He forced a sheepish smile, one he probably thought would melt my heart.
Instead, I rolled my eyes.
“Em,” he started. “Can we talk?”
“What would you possibly have to say to me?” I asked.
He cleared his throat.
“Look, I panicked. I thought… I thought you’d be sick forever, and I didn’t know how to handle it. But I love you.”
“You mean you love me? Or you love that you heard about my grandmother’s inheritance?”
The color drained from his face.
“I don’t care about money, Emily. I just missed you.”
“Go back to the blonde on the beach,” I said.
I stepped back, letting him stumble over his words as he tried to explain himself. When he finally paused, I rolled my eyes again.
“Do you remember what you said to me that night you left? About needing a vibrant wife? Yeah… nope. That’s not me.”
I opened the door wider, motioning for him to leave.
“I’ll send over the divorce papers. I’ll send them to your office.”
Over the next few months, I poured myself into the projects I’d always dreamed of pursuing. I traveled, started painting, and made new friends. Life was going to be better now, without Tyler and his dead weight.
What would you have done?
