The pain and damage toughens you up in case worse things come along. I took care of my fiance for a year and a half while she fought cancer - the last six months of her life I spent all my non-work hours playing nurse to her - if, prior to that, I had had an easy life without things going wrong and no pain in the past, I don't know how I would have handled it.
Whether it makes you tougher or leaves you broken really depends on you, but my grandfather used to have a saying: illigitimi non carborundum, which was (not quite) Latin for "Don't let the bastards grind you down".
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Sorry to hear about your fiancee. I can understand your feelings coz my grand mother is also a cancer patient and i am a doc. You are a brave man!
Very moving thought..Thanks