I have a good friend who years ago, had a relationship with a man and a child was born from this. Due to the man having an alcohol addiction among other things (scary things), they broke up when the child was just a baby. 17 years later, the child (almost grown) had expressed a desire to know his father in some way, be it pictures or letters...whatever. A week ago, his mother found his father via the internet. The problem is that he's got terminal cancer. He apparently straightened his life out ten years after they had split up and has been on the straight and narrow. Well, my friend has been speaking to him for hours every day (keep in mind...she only found him a week ago) catching up and she's offering support etc... and she is taking his child to see him. Here's where the issue comes in. He's beyond happy that she contacted him. He says he now has reason to fight (he has stage 4 cancer) and is telling her that he loves her, and referring to her and her child as his wife and family. He said that he prayed every day that he could just die. Now he's praying to live. She knows he will propose to her the day he meets his child. How in God's name would you react to that? She is freaking out because his mental state is so fragile and she doesn't want to fracture this new hope he has, but she can't marry him out of pity either. It's such a hard situation. Does anyone have any suggestions on how she might deal with this? If for some insane reason she decided to marry him, her entire family would absolutely lose it because they know who he was when she left him. To tell him she can't, might take away his desire to fight. What do you think you might do if you were faced with this?
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