What happens when illness and grief collide in a relationship?

How do you move forward when the person you love has already turned away—and the end of your marriage feels like one more loss to grieve?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener whose wife has asked for a separation after years of emotional distance, infertility struggles, and the ripple effects of chronic illness and loss.

Angela explores: • How chronic illness can be mistaken for emotional withdrawal in a relationship • Why grief can change our capacity for love, clarity, and connection • The difference between self-blame and genuine grief—and why grief is the path to healing • What it means to surrender control without giving up hope • How love can be real and meaningful, even when it doesn’t last forever

If you’ve ever faced the heartbreak of losing a partner while still loving them—or wondered how to find peace when life rewrites your love story—this episode offers tenderness, perspective, and solace for anyone navigating the intersection of illness, grief, and love.

✑ Join the conversation at askangela.co or leave your own question at askangelapodcast.com ✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

This is the final episode of Season One—Ask Angela will return with new episodes in early 2026.