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When they first started dating, Tara Flowe thought that her future husband was avoiding her because he wouldn’t respond to her messages. Then, weeks and weeks had passed, Tara got a message from John. She was ready to dump him and move on, but when he explained why he wasn’t able to respond, she thought twice about it.
According to The Sun, John didn’t do anything. John, 30 years old, suffers from Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, a neurological condition in which the person could sleep for days and wake up as if everything that happened was normal. John would only wake up if his body felt the need to use the bathroom.
John’s episodes could take months. Tara, 30 years old, understood his Kleine-Levin disorder. Tara is a federal government worker. The couple has been together for nine years. They live in South Carolina.
Tara admitted that he saw something in John that made her want to pursue a relationship with him. But she was incredibly thrown off when he didn’t respond to her messages for days.
Tara said, “We hit it off and were soon a couple. He told me about his illness. He’d been diagnosed in his late teens, after wrongly being sectioned for a day by doctors who mistook his sleepiness for bipolar disorder. I couldn’t believe it when I found out. I thought he was ghosting me but actually he was asleep. When I found out I was gobsmacked.”
The two dated for six months. Then, they got engaged. They married in 2008. They now have two kids. John’s condition continued to become worse with time. He would have an episode each year. When he wakes up from these episodes, his memory would be so faded that he could get confused.
John’s condition had made him miss Christmas, his sons’ birthdays, and other holidays. Tara said, “I love him and he did not ask for it. He’s not some drunk who sleeps and sleeps. It’s an illness.”
John said, “It sucks having this illness. It is like being trapped in a nightmare and not being able to wake up. I’m trapped behind a glass wall. It takes over. It’s a rare disorder. I lose my life for months at a time. I don’t experience my kids, my wife.
“I’m there but not there. It’s hard on me but also my family. It takes a strong person like Tara to cope with it – but I am so grateful for Tara and my family for their support.”
