Our Stories
Love. Loss. And learning to live onwards.
We can't know your individual life or circumstances, so it's unlikely that you'll find the "right" answer here for you. What we can offer is choices, ideas and inspiration, to help you support the person you love. We've drawn from both our strongest and darkest days, to share our personal story. We hope it gives you some comfort when you need it most.
Founder of The Unwanted Path
Mark was diagnosed with late-stage bowel cancer in 2024. He was 46 years old when he died in 2025. He left behind three young children. Their story is here.
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Contributor to The Unwanted Path
Jerry was diagnosed with melanoma in 2020, after a misdiagnosis. He died just ten weeks later at the age of 30. Andrew has shared their story here.
What's Your Story?
Other contributors who've lost their loved one are currently writing their stories to share here. We will share them soon.
We're actively recruiting contributors. If you've lived alongside your partner during an incurable illness and want to share your story, please get in touch. We're also seeking support from professional experts and content creators to help us reach more people and grow this resource.
Our Mission
We noticed that most support during terminal illness is built for the elderly. We're here for the partners and families who want to support the one they love, when they expect their person to die before retirement age.
Our aim is to help you navigate between diagnosis and death. If your partner or spouse has a life-threatening diagnosis, we provide supportive encouragement, practical advice and emotional honesty, to give you strength on your unwanted path.
Our Team
We're a team who've each cared for a husband, wife or partner after an incurable diagnosis, during their illness and at the end of life. We are widows and bereaved people who lost a loved one when we were under 55 years old.
We met on our own unwanted path and through the UK charity WAY (Widowed and Young), which supports people when their partner dies. We created this website as a resource, because we believe it would have been helpful when things began to get difficult for us.
Nobody can tell you how to do this, but we hope that our site will be a useful resource for others who need it. Your relationship may be a marriage, a romantic partnership, friendship, kinship, sibling or any other form of life-long commitment. We use the term partner on this website to recognise love in all its forms.
We believe you deserve as much time as possible with the one you love. We hope that by helping you to care for them, you can be as present as possible for them and for yourself.
We came together because we cared through it all and we care about you. The Unwanted Path is a volunteer-run, non-profit organisation. This free resource is currently made possible through private donations, partnership support and affiliate relationships.
"Thank you for compiling a sensitive, comprehensive and invaluable resource for anyone to come to should they be facing a palliative situation with their partner. It brings together all the main areas that you might need help or information about from practical advice on medical care and finances to planing ahead, making difficult choices, communication and even what to expect at the very end." - Dr Molly Byham, GP
There's No "Right" Way
Many people live with a life-limiting illness experience losses after their diagnosis, while remaining positive about their future. Not every story happens in the way the doctors predicted. A diagnosis may mean that your future looks very different to the one you'd planned together. And your story may not be anything like the stories you've read here or follow the statistics you've been told. We've shared our experiences because we know that sometimes gentle encouragement is enough to move you onwards, through the toughest of times. What's certain is that nothing is certain during serious illness.
Your life won't stop entirely. Your strength, love and care are required, regardless of what happens. Each person's experience is unique and there's no map for doing this. Nobody can tell you what to do, including us, and that's why we built this site. We've learned the hard way that difficult things can be done. We're so sorry that you're having to do it.
We hope you find what you need, as you need it, with love and courage.
We want to ensure that the partners and spouses whose lives have been interrupted by terminal illness are at the heart of the information we produce. Everything we write is read and reviewed by professionals, subject matter experts, and people affected by this experience, to ensure that it's clear, accessible and relevant.
The information on this site is for emotional support and general guidance only. It is not a substitute for professional medical, legal or financial advice. If you're facing a decision that needs expert input, please seek it. So far as is permitted by UK law, The Unwanted Path does not accept liability for the use of any information on this site.
We take care with everything we publish and we are human. We may make mistakes. If you spot something that doesn't seem right, please tell us. If you'd like to contribute by reading and reviewing our content, we'd welcome that. Please get in touch. We actively seek diverse voices and perspectives from all backgrounds and communities.
We're available for speaking events and always looking for partnerships to support the growth of this site.
Please send us an email if you'd like to help us grow.