Fox News anchor Shannon Bream has often shared pieces of her personal life with viewers, but one of the most defining chapters in her marriage to her husband, Sheldon, began under devastating circumstances. Shortly after they got engaged, Sheldon was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a diagnosis that could have ended not only his health but also their future together.

Speaking in interviews over the years, Bream has recalled how the news threatened to derail everything. Sheldon, facing uncertainty about his survival, suggested that Shannon call off their engagement. He didn’t want her to be burdened with a husband who might not live long enough to build the life they had envisioned.

“He told me I should walk away,” Shannon explained. “He said it wasn’t fair to me, that I deserved a different future. But I wasn’t going anywhere.”

At one point, Sheldon tried to take the engagement ring back. Shannon refused to let him. “I said, ‘No. I said yes to you, and that means all of it—the scary parts, too.’ I wanted him to know this was a commitment I wasn’t going to back out of.”

The months that followed were grueling. Sheldon underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and his recovery required enormous strength. Shannon balanced her law studies with caring for him, often admitting later that it was one of the hardest seasons of her life. Still, she insisted that walking away was never an option.

“He was worth it,” she said. “And if I had to do it all over again, I would.”

Sheldon eventually recovered, and the couple married in 1995. The ordeal left them with a perspective on marriage that has lasted decades. “We learned early that life can change in an instant,” Shannon has said. “It made us treasure the ordinary days and not take any of them for granted.”

Since then, the couple has built a life rooted in faith and resilience. Shannon pursued a career in television journalism that eventually took her to Fox News, where she now anchors Fox News Sunday. Sheldon built a career in business and media representation.

The strength they drew from those early years has carried them through challenges since. Shannon has spoken about her own struggles with a rare eye condition that left her in chronic pain before doctors found a treatment. Through it all, she says Sheldon has been her steady source of support, just as she was for him decades earlier.

Today, nearly 30 years after that terrifying diagnosis, Shannon often describes her marriage as stronger than ever. “He’s my best friend,” she told People in a past interview. “We’ve faced things we never saw coming, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t trade our journey for anything.”

What began with a diagnosis that threatened to tear them apart instead became the foundation of a marriage defined by endurance—and a reminder, Shannon says, that love is sometimes tested most in the moments when life doesn’t go according to plan.