How we met: "I thought bipolar people couldn't live together. But I saw myself well with Suzy'

After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1997, Michel didn't think it was possible to find lasting love. Throughout his 20s, he had been the primary carer for his father, who was also bipolar, and had seen the challenges firsthand. "Treatment at the time was primitive and his illness destroyed my parents' marriage. I grew up with the idea that bipolar people couldn't live with someone else," he says. so channeled his energy into work, becoming a freelance writer and founding trustee of the charity Bipolar UK.

In October 2005 he was helping out at one of his conferences when he spotted Suzy, a speaker he had invited. "I had been diagnosed with bipolar when I was 20 and spent a decade in and out of psychiatric hospitals," she said. "Unlike a lot of 'other people I knew I had received very good care, so I decided to write a book about my experiences to show how much the care and kindness of the nurses had helped me."

Suzy expected there to be an audience of 30 people at the conference. "When I saw 300, I almost ran out," she said. "Out of nowhere, Michel appeared and asked me if I was okay. My hands were shaking so much that he took the microphone and offered to hold it while I spoke.

Michel stayed with her and offered silent encouragement. “He kept telling me how well I was doing. He was a friend who came out of nowhere as I really needed someone," Suzy says. Afterwards, they chatted before parting ways. Michel was living near London at the time, while Suzy was living in Helensburgh, Scotland.

A few months later, she saw an op-ed that Michel had written in Bipolar UK's quarterly magazine about learning to live a comfortable single life."Reading between the lines, I felt that 'he was in the wrong place,' she said. Remembering his act of kindness at the conference, she emailed him to check in. Michel, who was suffering from depression, replied to him immediately.