Season One · Sandie Benoit
Sandy’s Story
Love, Loss, and Learning to Live Without Him
When love becomes caregiving
Sandie Benoit shares the story of her relationship with Brian and the life they were building before autoimmune encephalitis changed it. Her episode explores caregiving, grief, and continuing to live after losing a partner.
She speaks about what it meant to care for Brian while raising her daughters, working, and facing health challenges of her own.
Before · The change · What came next
Before
Sandie and Brian knew each other in high school and reconnected later in life. Their relationship grew around the warmth and openness she remembers as Brian’s Aloha spirit.
The change
Brian’s illness affected his memory and personality, and Sandie took on the responsibilities of caregiving. She balanced his needs with family, work, and her own breast cancer diagnosis, eventually making the difficult decision to seek long-term care for him.
What came next
Following Brian’s death, Sandie continued finding her way through grief and the life that remained. In her Season One conversation, she shares the importance of connection, family, and a new relationship that honors Brian’s memory.
Listen to Sandie Benoit’s story
Guest Biography and Resources
Biography shared for Season One.
About Sandie
Sandie is a quiet force of strength and compassion. A devoted mother to three grown daughters, she has weathered unimaginable grief and chosen, time and time again, to keep showing up—with love, resilience, and honesty.
Though she’s a private person by nature, Sandie bravely opened up to share her story on Change Happened, Then What?—not for attention, but in hopes that it might help someone else navigating the pain of caregiving, illness, or loss.
She spent years caring for her late partner Brian through a complex and heartbreaking illness, all while raising teens, working full-time at a local bank, and confronting her own health challenges. Today, Sandie is building a beautiful new chapter. She has recoupled with a kind and grounded man—someone she met through Brian’s son, Kilanni—who honors Brian’s memory while walking beside Sandy with tenderness and support.
Sandie continues to work at the bank, where she remains a steady, warm presence in the community. Her story is a powerful reminder that even after deep loss, love can find us again—and that sharing our truth can be a gift to others who need to hear it.