Chip Chick
Two months ago, this 55-year-old man’s wife, 56, tragically passed away from cancer. For his wife’s entire life, she took care of her now 30-year-old daughter (his stepdaughter), who has Down’s Syndrome.
Her daughter has never been able to live on her own, and she’ll never be able to. She also struggles to control her emotions.
He has been a part of his stepdaughter’s life since she was 5 years old, and he clarified that he was never a cruel or cold stepfather.
“I spent years fearing the day when she was physically developed to the point where punches, scratches, and throwing things were a real threat,” he said.
“Once that happened, all of my wife’s friends stopped visiting our house. One of them even said that her uncle deals with vicious dogs for a living, and she feels safer around his workplace than at our house.”
Unfortunately, he had to go to the doctor many repeatedly because he was in the room with his stepdaughter, and she tried to bash his head in, throw something heavy at him, or attempt to choke him when he was asleep.
The only person who succeeded in getting his stepdaughter to relax was his late wife. After his wife received her cancer diagnosis, they hired caregivers for his stepdaughter.
“THEY would be asking ME whether I could enlighten them on a better way to explain things to my stepdaughter when she was going ballistic,” he explained.
“Even they, who were used to explaining things to people who just didn’t get things, were still struggling and asking for insight. When my late wife was first diagnosed, the first word out of her mouth was my stepdaughter’s name.”
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
