A conversation in a hospital break room in 2007 brought Gary, an E.R. physician, into Stephanie’s world. Her childhood friend Wendy was working at the same hospital as Gary and, one day, Wendy spotted him reading the magazine National MD News during his lunch break—the magazine where Stephanie is a publisher.

Stephanie told Newsweek: “He said: ‘This girl is really funny. I would read it just to read the publisher’s letter,’

“And I replied, ‘Well, she’s my best friend and that’s her telephone number at the bottom of the page.’”

At 50, Gary was 15 years older than 35-year-old Stephanie and, after a bad experience in the past, she had a “no doctors” dating rule. But a phone call from Wendy persuaded Stephanie to give Gary a chance.

She said: “I decided to meet him for one drink. I was a single mom so I didn’t want to go out all night or have him come back to my house or anything like that.”

Over dinner, Stephanie realized she and Gary had a lot in common. Both had had children early in life, so Gary was sensitive to Stephanie’s struggles as a single parent. He was also recently divorced and Stephanie had just come out of a toxic relationship herself.

She was wary, though, adding: “[My ex] was a little bit narcissistic and not the husband that I really wanted. I ended up liking Gary a lot, which was scary.”

Gary respected her boundaries and worked hard to build a relationship with Stephanie’s three boys, then aged 16, 11, and 7.

She said: “He gave my children the stability that we lacked. They saw him as a safe haven.”

Within six months, Gary had asked Stephanie to marry him, but she needed more time. Then the market crashed and Stephanie found herself struggling financially.

“I was making good money, but when you’re supporting three children and the father isn’t paying child support, you’re both mom and dad,” she said.

“He wanted to help, but I wouldn’t let him. I didn’t need a white knight. I was very untrusting of men. But he worked hard to break down my barriers.”

After Stephanie’s oldest child moved away for college in 2009, the pair decided to wed. First, they had to overcome challenges posed by their age gap and different lifestyles. His friends were concerned about the age difference and Stephanie’s young children, but Gary was firm in his decision.

“[His friend] sat him down and said ‘I don’t know if you want to marry this girl. She’s got three children and that’s a lot of work. Maybe you’d prefer someone your own age with a similar life to you,’” Stephanie recalled.

“He said ‘I don’t want to be with someone my age, I want to be with Stephanie. She’s everything I’ve always wanted.’”

The wedding went ahead in June 2009 but, less than two years later in 2011, Stephanie’s health began to decline. She began to experience bleeding episodes and her stomach would swell up to “six or seven times” its normal size. However, as she didn’t know her biological father, she didn’t have a full genetics profile.

Stephanie had several surgeries for cysts on her ovaries, but her health continued to worsen. When she returned from the hospital after one such operation, Gary could see that something wasn’t right.

She said: “I was losing feeling in my arms and legs and felt really weak. He broke out his [doctor’s] bag and started taking my vitals. My nail beds were white, and my hands and feet were white.

“He was like, ‘I need to get you to the ER now.’”

By the time Stephanie had arrived at the hospital, she had lost feeling in her arms and legs. Other physicians advised Gary to prepare himself and her family for the worst. She was given a blood transfusion, but Stephanie’s body rejected it.

The blood bank refused to give her any more blood until they figured out what the problem was. With Stephanie at risk of bleeding to death, Gary sprang into action.

“‘He looked at his partner and said, ‘Tell them if they don’t give her blood, I’m going to go out to the truck and get my gun, call my attorney, or both. You’re not taking my beautiful wife away from me,’” she said.

Stephanie’s treatment continued and tests eventually revealed that she had a rare genetic disorder—von Willebrand disease Type III. People with this condition have low levels of a blood-clotting agent known as the von Willebrand factor, meaning their blood struggles to coagulate or doesn’t clot at all.

Stephanie is now in remission, but “it’s been a rocky road. They taught us how to treat me at home and what to do before and after surgeries,” she said.

More recently, Gary supported Stephanie through the 2018 death of her younger brother, which she describes as “horrible.”

“I helped to raise my much younger brother and sister when I was coming up and it was a difficult time for me, but he was so supportive,” she said.

The couple, now 50 and 65 years old, have been married for 13 years and are still going strong. Later this year, they are planning to move to Florida, to an area with several other age-gap couples.

“A lot of the wives are younger and the husbands are older, so this is going to be my tribe from here on out,” she said.

“Where we live in Virginia, it’s still very old school. They don’t really think out of the box and, if you do, there must be something wrong with you.”

Gary credits Stephanie for opening his heart and keeping him young, while she praises him for the love and stability he has brought to her life.

“For the first time, we’re empty-nesters,” she said. “I feel like we can relax and embark on this new life and we’re very excited.”