My husband had a severe stroke. I went back to work to help pay for his roughly $5,000 a month care costs.

Brenda Eicher-Beard's husband had a stroke in 2023.

Courtesy of Brenda Eicher-Beard

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brenda Eicher-Beard, in her 70s and living in Virginia. The following has been edited for length and clarity.I spent most of my career life in Maryland, but I moved to Virginia a decade ago because my daughter lives and works there.We kept our home in Maryland because we intended to return after helping with childcare. However, we ended up staying due to my husband's health declining, to be near my daughter for her assistance, and for the medical facilities and physicians.When my grandson was in kindergarten, my husband was in good health and helped with childcare while I continued to work. He picked him up from school and things like that. His health started to decline a bit in 2021, and we were trying to figure out a diagnosis. After seeing several different neurologists, the doctors said that he had atypical Parkinson's.He also had blood pressure issues that we were dealing with, and then he had a hemorrhagic stroke in January 2023, just a few months after the Parkinson's diagnosis, and I quit working. This fall I went back to work full time as a reading specialist to afford keeping him at home with private paid care.