A Very Special Love Story Ends Sadly for Autistic Couple

Eric Prescott and Kristyn Olejarz were a very special couple. They met while students at New Bedford High School and fell in love, as many high school sweethearts do. But theirs was a very special love story. Eric and Kristyn were an autistic couple.

Eric, 26, works at Stop & Shop where he rounds up shopping carts. Kristyn, 25, didn't have a job but wanted one badly. Eric has an autism spectrum disorder. Kristyn was diagnosed with Prader Willi Syndrome. He was her Romeo and she was his Juliet. She wrote often about her love for Eric.

"He is my everything to me. His is the world to me and he means a lot to me. I am really happy because he treats me as a queen and also he treats me very nice. The special things that I love him about is his smile and his laugh and his personality and his caring about me his romantic passionate love with me and his kisses and his hugs. And the biggest special thing I love him about is his autism." – Kristyn Olejarz

Eric and Kristyn went to movies together and for Chinese. Kristyn was proud of Eric's ability to memorize the dialogue from each film they saw. They loved to attend dances for the "differently-abled" community held monthly at VFW Poirier Post on Appleton Street and went often.

Eric's mom Kathleen remembers, "When I used to pick him up after the dances, she would walk him to his car and say goodbye to him and they would give each other a goodnight kiss and she would say 'Goodnight, Romeo' and he would say 'Goodnight, my Juliet.' It was just a really sweet relationship." 

Kristyn's mom Cheryl agrees Eric and Kristyn were a special couple.

"They were quiet when together but you could feel the love they shared," she said. "Eric was always such a gentleman to her and would hold the doors open and say 'ladies first.' They were just so gentle and sweet to one another."

Kristyn unexpectedly went into cardiac arrest last week and suffered significant damage to her brain as a result of a prolonged lack of oxygen. Her family discontinued treatment on Friday evening. She passed away shortly after.

Kathleen says it broke her heart to tell Eric.

"When I told him, he was visibly upset his eyes watered and he looked at me and said, 'My sweet Kristyn,'" she said. "He doesn't show a lot of emotion. He said he's going to miss her very much. He's especially going to miss going to the dances with her. When his father passed, he took the news kind of in the same way. He just processes it in a different way. He has his moments where he'll think of his father and I'm sure he'll do the same with Kristyn."

Kristyn loved music. She sang often and dreamed of meeting Celine Dion and Cher one day. Her mom says she was "a scary movie and serial killer buff." She had two sisters, three dogs and a cat named Socks and loved to read and do puzzles. She says Kristyn was her best friend.

"She was an amazing person with a heart of gold," Cheryl said. "Eric was the love of her life."

Eric and Kristyn shared the purest form of love. It was unconditional and uncomplicated. They loved and accepted each other exactly as they were. A love as innocent and true as Eric and Kristyn's is rare. Their love story was cut short by fate but can serve as an inspiration to us all.

Rest peacefully, Juliet.

A Love Poem For Eric

You are the sun that shines brightly throughout my day. You are the gravity that holds me down in every way. You are the moon that shimmers throughout my night. You are stars that glimmer oh so bright. You are oxygen that keeps me alive. You are my heart that beats inside. You are the blood that flows through me. You are the only guy I can see. You have the voice of when a mockingbird sings. You are my everything. You are my one and only. You stop me from being so lonely. We plan our future as if we have a clue. I never want to lose you. I want you to be my husband and I want to be your wife. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. – Kristyn Olejarz