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From The New York Times and WBUR Boston, this is Modern Love.

Stories of Love, loss and redemption.

I'm your host, Megna Chakrabardi.

In sickness and in health, perhaps you are one of the many who's vowed to stand by your partner on both sides of this promise.

But like so many things in marriage, it's easier said than done.

Eric Gummney and his wife Monica know this all too well.

Chris Messina of the Mindy Project and the film The Sweet Life reads Eric's essay,

When Love isn't as simple as standing by your man.

My wife and I used to joke about how much better we were than other couples.

How we never had the petty fights and misunderstandings that everyone else seemed to be having.

Together we had weathered layoffs, a cross-country move, multiple hospitalizations for my cystic fibrosis,

and the house breaking of two terrier puppies.

Yet somehow we always managed to come out stronger than before.

Our love was indestructible.

Then she threatened to leave me six weeks after I had a double lung transplant.

When you're being evaluated for a transplant, there are a lot of things that nurses and medical professionals tell you over and over again

to drive home the significance, to make sure you're truly prepared and probably to keep you from suing them later.

There's a good chance you may die, they tell you.

Either during the surgery or while waiting for it.

They show you pictures of how physically racked your body is going to be in the days after the procedure.

They give you documents explaining that you may die,

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