A woman who left her fiancé after he was diagnosed with terminal illness has opened up about the difficult decision she was forced to make.
Danielle Epstein knew that she had to end their relationship after her partner Jelle Fresen was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer at the age of 37.
The mass was initially believed to be benign and Danielle ‘naively believed’ they could go back to their normal life after it was removed.
But after it was discovered that the tumor was malignant and Jelle was told the chances of him getting the rare cancer was one in four million, Danielle knew it was over.
Speaking with Yahoo, she said: “As soon as I heard these words delivered to my fiancé, I knew the future we had planned out was over. It had disappeared in a matter of seconds.
“But I knew then I could not stay with him.
“Watching helplessly as he got sicker and sicker over the preceding three months had been bad enough, but the uncertainty the diagnosis brought was just too much for me.”
Danielle said she spent many sleepless nights researching about any cure but only found ‘bleak statistics’ and the cancer returning in the future.
“I felt like the man I loved was slipping away from me. I had been so close to having everything I wanted and then, all of a sudden, it had been snatched away,” she continued.
“I couldn’t eat or sleep, I was suffering from panic attacks and taking all kinds of medication to help me function, to little effect. I told my mother and his: ‘I can’t do this, I can’t stay with him.’”
Danielle was told by her and Jelle’s mother not to tell him about her decision until after he underwent surgery to remove the tumor, which left him with ‘severe brain damage,’ paralysis on the right side of his face, and double vision.
Two weeks after the operation, she told him that their relationship was over and admitted that she was ‘devastated’ by it.
“At the time, I felt like the worst person in the world, and I know if I heard this story about someone else I would think they were selfish,” she expressed.
“Jelle understood, as did my friends and family, and he and I remain close friends.”
Danielle is now running the London Marathon in Jelle’s honor and has raised more than $14,300 for the charity Brain Tumor Research.
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