Sophie's Choice comes to mind (when it's revealed about her bloke) though not so extreme. Some get past diagnosis by having highly regarded qualities which outweigh other aspects (which only show up when things go bad for them). Possibly a minor trauma somewhere along the line flipped him out...
My fridge has just died on me and I don't have the tools to repair it, and I don't trust repairmen, and I'll only buy another as a last resort - which will then leave me with a bunch of useless fridge repair tools, hassle hassle hassle...

