63 What Happens…. When the Person You Were Supposed to Grow Old With You Dies Too Soon

Stephanie Duran's story is not one chapter, it is three. It begins in childhood, in a home where money was unpredictable and frightening, and where those early lessons left their mark on everything that followed. The second chapter is a marriage of twenty-one years, and then a divorce followed by the financial reckoning that comes with it. And then the third chapter: falling in love again, building a business together, and then receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis just three months after opening their doors. From that moment to his death, she had three and a half years: three and a half years of loving someone through the unimaginable, to advocate and fight for his life, and of facing decisions no one should ever have to make in the middle of grief. Somewhere in the middle of telling it, we both ran out of words for a moment as the tears rolled down our cheeks. Some stories don't just inform you, they remind you of what is actually at risk, and what it really means to be a woman navigating money and life and love all at the same time. In this episode we cover: How a childhood shaped by financial chaos follows you into adulthood and what it takes to finally face that story The money lessons Stephanie took from a 21-year marriage, and what she wishes she had known before the divorce The financial reality of a terminal diagnosis: the decisions, and the debt that comes with fighting for someone's life Voluntary Assisted Dying and what it means emotionally, financially, and practically, and why more families need to be having this conversation How Stephanie turned the hardest chapters of her life into Because I Loved You - a memoir about the journey she shared with the love of her life, and why financial advisers and oncology professionals across Australia and the United States are now using it as a resource Stephanie is a former attorney, an ICF certified grief and trauma coach, and the author of Because I Loved You — now being used by financial advisers and oncology professionals across Australia and the United States. This is one of the most important conversations I have had on this podcast. I think you will feel that too. You can purchase the book here through amazon:  https://www.amazon.com.au/Because-Loved-You-Surviving-Unthinkable/dp/B0FCYTYVWX This episode covers grief, terminal illness, early partner loss and divorce. Please take care as you listen.