For years, people have looked at Shane Burcaw and Hannah Aylward and ᴀssumed they understood their relationship before ever hearing their story.

Shane was born with spinal muscular atrophy type 2, a genetic condition that causes severe muscle weakness. He uses a powered wheelchair and relies on ᴀssistance with many everyday activities.

Hannah first discovered Shane in 2016 after watching a documentary about his life. His humor caught her attention, so she reached out.

What followed wasn’t some perfect movie-style romance. It began with messages, jokes and FaceTime calls between two people living about 1,000 miles apart.

Eventually, they met. Then they fell in love.

But their relationship quickly showed them how many ᴀssumptions strangers could make. People questioned how Hannah could genuinely be attracted to Shane, while others ᴀssumed she was simply his caregiver or that their marriage couldn’t possibly be real.

Instead of allowing those reactions to define them, Shane and Hannah began sharing their everyday life through Squirmy and Grubs.

Their videos show the reality of their relationship — traveling, laughing, dealing with accessibility challenges, navigating caregiving and simply being a married couple.

Hannah does help Shane with everyday tasks, but they have repeatedly described their relationship as a partnership, not a story about one person sacrificing everything for another. ❤️

On September 4, 2020, after four years together, they married in a small backyard ceremony, with their officiant joining through Zoom during the pandemic.

And perhaps the simplest answer to all those ᴀssumptions is still the most powerful one:

She isn’t his nurse. She isn’t his sister. She’s his wife. ❤️

👉 Source: Squirmy and Grubs — official YouTube channel