Have you ever had to live with despair for a long time? Why?

Have you ever lived with despair for a long time because there was nothing you could do to alleviate the pain without sacrificing something else of importance to you? I’m interested in the choices that people are willing to make to have one thing, even though it means they have to sacrifice another thing that is very important to them. How long can you or did you hold out with pain, in order to keep something important? What made you able to hold on, despite your despair?

I’m thinking of things like relationships where people hold on because they don’t want to lose access to their children. Or they remain living in horrible conditions because they don’t want to be separated from something important. Or the despair you feel when a loved one is in a coma on life support for years. Or staying alive in prison or under torture that seems endless.

What did you do? Why didn’t you give up? How did you do it?