What is the effect of long-term illness on spousal support?

With respect to illness, the words of McLaughlin J., as she then was, in Bracklow v. Bracklow, 1999 CanLII 715 (SCC), [1999] 1 S.C.R. 420, 169 D.L.R. (4th) 577, 63 B.C.L.R. (3d) 77, are apt to the case at bar: Conversely, marriage and the family often require the sacrifice of personal priorities by both parties in the interests of shared goals. All of these elements are of undeniable importance in shaping the overall character of a marriage. Spousal support in the context of divorce, however, is not about the emotional and social benefits of marriage. Rather, the purpose of spousal support is to relieve economic hardship that arises from “marriage or its breakdown”. Whatever the respective advantages to the parties of a marriage in other areas, the focus of the inquiry when assessing spousal support after the marriage has ended must be the effect of the marriage in either impairing or improving each party’s economic prospects. (para. 43).