'I don't really remember the old Ric'

Marie Moreau never expected her husband Ric Moreau's personality to change. 

But ten years after they got married, she started to notice he was more irritable. He wouldn't get out of bed as easily in the morning. 

That's when, in 1999, doctors found a cancerous tumour in Ric's brain. He had surgery that year and again in 2007. 

Despite the surgeries, the tumour affected Ric's brain permanently. 

"Because he has no deficit from a mobility point of view, or [a deficit in his] ability to speak or find words, it's hard to pinpoint what the difference is," Marie said. 

The main difference in Ric is his loss of an important part of what the brain does, the executive function. Ric describes it as the brain's air traffic control system.

"It equips us with the ability to remember, focus, plan and respond appropriately," Ric said.

"I don't have that executive function to shut me down, to say, hey wait, that's inappropriate. I don't know where that line is, so I often cross it." 

Over the years of dealing with Ric's brain tumour, the couple has had to reinvent their marriage. Because of his lack of executive function, Ric's behaviour can be unpredictable. Marie found the instability extremely stressful, especially with three teenage boys in the house. 

It got to the point where Marie asked Ric to move out of the family home for a while. Ric lived in his own apartment for six years, only moving back in 2016. 

The separation was tough for Ric to handle. 

"I often felt disposable," he said.

But Marie felt like she had no choice. The stress was overwhelming. 

"It was a terrible feeling, because none of this is Ric's fault," she said. 

"He's had a brain tumour and lived through it. It's not like he deserved that, but it certainly made home a calmer, more predictable place." 

He says he has trouble remembering what he was like before the tumour. 

"I don't see any difference. It's not like I went along with my life up to 1999, had brain surgery, came out of the surgery unit in a different person's body. I came out in the same body.

"[Marie] is saying, 'Well, you're different.' And I'm like, 'Well, I don't feel any different. I'm reacting the same.'

Marie says she and Ric married for better or for worse. 

"I divide my life up into things I can change and things I can't change. And things I can't change are Ric and who he's become. And so I focus on the things I can change, and I think it's worked out quite well."