Chesed Shel Emes x 1000

 

Watch this. It’ll remind that humans are GOOD. Grab a tissue. pic.twitter.com/6T8T5nJetn

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) March 4, 2024

 A Texas husband moved in with his wife’s critically disabled ex and devoted himself to helping care for him — even to changing him and giving him baths.

James Armstrong, 36, married wife Kris in 2016, but their relationship came with an unusual arrangement.

Kris, 38, is the legal guardian of her high school sweetheart and ex-husband, 38-year-old Brandon, who suffered severe brain damage in a car accident two years after their 2006 wedding.

As a result, Brandon was left with dramatically reduced mental and physical capacity, and unable to care for himself.

After years of caring for Brandon as his wife, Kris decided she needed to move on with her life — but did not want to give up on him. So she divorced him, then filed paperwork to become his legal guardian.

When James met Kris, he knew Brandon would be a part of their lives, but was more than happy to welcome him into his life — and assume with his wife all the responsibility of caring for her ex-husband.

“He needs us. He needs people that love him.”

Together the couple do everything with Brandon — from changing and bathing him, to feeding him and bringing him to medical appointments. Kris and James are with Brandon every step of the way.

“I think in the physicality of him helping Brandon, that’s one piece. The fact that we change Brandon together, I can do it by myself but it’s very, very hard,” Kris said.

“James helps me, that is such a gift of love,” she added.

The blended family also includes James and Kris’ kids, who dote on Brandon and refer to him as their “uncle.”

Despite the life they’ve created together, James said he would give it all up in a moment if there were an opportunity for Brandon to recover.

“He said if some miracle treatment happens for people with a brain injury and Brandon can be healed, he said, ‘I would want you to be with him, you were with him first,'” Kris said.

“And I don’t think that’s gonna happen, but just the fact that, you’re a very special person, you really are,” she told James in the interview with “CBS Mornings.”

James maintains he’s just doing what he thinks is right.

“I do what my heart tells me to do,” he said.

James’ love for Brandon is so profound, he said, he would still take care of him even if Kris were no longer around to do so herself.

“I also told her if anything happens to her or she passes away, I will fight for guardianship. He will have another advocate,” James said.

Brandon lives in a nursing home, but Kris and James regularly drop in to visit and take care of him, and document their life with him on their TikTok account.