Ex broke up with me suddenly because of their mental illness.Do mentally ill exes ever come back?

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the long post: I am new here and need some help/advice. My partner and I dated for five months before I was blindsided by a break up. My partner has multiple mental health issues, including depression, panic disorder, OCD, an eating disorder (in recovery), sensory processing issues, CPTSD, and ADHD. I also suspect that she may be on the autism spectrum. I always made sure to ask for consent and let her take the lead with showing affection, as I know it is hard for her. She would ask why I wanted to date her and would say that she was broken. I genuinely care for her and love her, mental illness or not (I said as much, minus the love part). Our last date before the break up, she asked to kiss me and seemed comfortable with it. For disclosure, I also have mental health issues and I never met someone who was as kind or accepting as she was with me during the relationship. My boundary was that I could date her as long as she was getting help and she seemed committed to working on herself and trying to be in a relationship. I also hold that same expectation for myself.

The night before being broken up with, my partner and I made plans for hanging out that weekend and she mentioned me in her future. Less than 24 hours later, she broke up with me citing her worsening mental health during the pandemic and all of the problematic current events via a text. She also mentioned wanting to be friends, which I was fine with.

Realistically, her anxiety was getting much worse and she would have panic attacks after kissing me and would withdraw really suddenly after wanting to kiss me, fleeing. She was also dealing with some not-so-great home circumstances and dealing with a recent loss, so in this case, I took the break up at face value and didn't fault her for the method, given how tough of a time she was facing. She also mentioned wanting to try again after the pandemic.

Anyways, I reached out a couple of times post-break up. The first was to check on her because I was genuinely concerned about her. The second was because I got rejected from a program that I really wanted to get into and she is someone, due to her having gotten into something similar, had some very good insight. Both times, she responded very warmly and genuinely. The third time, I reached out about a month later to ask if it was alright if I sent her a card for her birthday and mentioned that I missed her friendship, asking to hang out in a few weeks. She gave me a response that my friends and I suspected was her stringing me along, so I asked if that was the case, but it also had some legitimacy (school and friendship troubles). When I asked her if that was the case, she mentioned that she didn't want to string me along and thought that we shouldn't speak to eachother again so that we can both move on. I feel like I pushed her too much and made a mistake by stating if she wanted a friendship, she would have to reach out this time.

I've gone no contact since, but I know that she is not well and was also struggling with medication adjustments. It feels like I've lost a partner and a friendship, as how the breakup occurred and subsequent cutting contact seemed out of character for her.

In reality, I support her decision to break up because I want her to be happy and healthy. If she needed to do that for herself, I love her enough for that to happen. If it means all we can ever be is friends, I can put aside my feelings and be there for her. But I also don't know if I am being pushed away because of her mental illnesses acting up and she feels like she deserves this and that I don't care, or if it is because I screwed up.

I will respect her space, but at the same time I am torn and feel like I am in a darned if I do, darned if I don't situation. What is the fine line between respecting her space and wanting her to know that she has someone in her corner who hasn't abandoned her?

I am trying to take care of myself and am slowly moving on from the relationship (I will always love her and would be willing to try again in the very distant future, provided she has gotten help and there were boundaries in place), but is it possible that I will ever see her again? Do mentally ill partners come back if they've gotten adequate help? Is it possible that she and I could be friends in the distant future, if that isn't the case?

I'm just feeling confused, sad, and although it isn't her fault, I feel abandoned. The worst part is that I have a lot of non-mentally ill people in my life who are judging the situation with a mindset that my partner has motivations that are that of mentally well individuals. I'm just reeling with anxiety about the situation and I worry about her.