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We've all dropped the odd fake excuse to get out of plans in our lives, but pretending to suffer a stroke would probably be low on the list.
It's much less complicated to say you need to take your dog to the vet or you've come down with a sudden cold, but one man was convinced his date had gone down the 'fake stroke' route when she cancelled their plans for drinks on 21 February.
Wendy Catherine, from Ontario, Canada, had actually looking forward to going out for drinks with the 'sweet guy' she'd been speaking to on Facebook for a week, but she was forced to cancel when she suffered a stroke two days before their meeting.
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The 35-year-old, who has multiple sclerosis, said the stroke 'came on suddenly' and lasted for 12 hours, but she was thankfully given the all-clear by her doctors afterwards.
She was left 'in shock' following the unexpected medical emergency, saying: "I had almost forgotten about the date because of what had happened, and then I realised I had this coming up. So I messaged him."
Wendy decided to cancel the date with an honest explanation, telling her date she'd had a 'medical emergency' and was on bed rest. When he asked what happened, she explained she'd suffered a 'minor stroke' - a revelation that, understandably, seemed to shock the date.
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"Are you serious?," he replied. But rather than offering concern or sympathy, the date added: "You could have just been real about it."
It became clear that he didn't believe Wendy, telling her the stroke was 'quite the excuse' and that she could have 'just said [she wasn't] interested'.
When Wendy insisted she was telling the truth, the date wrote: "I smell bullsh*t. Did a family member go missing in another country somewhere too and now you need money for their ransom?"
Wendy said she was 'taken aback' by the 'unexpected' response from her date, adding: "In fairness to him, people do use very bizarre excuses to get out of dates or ghost people. It's become a trend unfortunately.
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"But being on the other end of it, where you're the one saying it, knowing it's real [you're thinking], 'how am I supposed to get the message across to him that I'm not lying?'."
Wendy told her date that she understood the situation was bizarre, but insisted: "I legit had a stroke."
"Sure ya did," he responded. "Take care."
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At that point, Wendy decided 'I'm not even going to fight this'.
"I'm not going to defend myself or try and prove myself," she said. "If this is how he wants to react, that's fine - I'm just going to move on. I have bigger things to worry about right now."
Wendy has decided to 'bow out' of online dating for a while after the bizarre exchange, though after sharing her story on TikTok viewers insisted she'd 'dodged a bullet'.
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Health
Emily Brown