Step it Up

 

 The Murrarys were  an average family.Alice was the homemaker, Simon had a steady job driving for Pickfords. They’d been married for 17 years and had a daughter aged 9 and a daughter aged 5 and a lived in a bungalow in Handforth in the North of England. They were planning to go on holiday to Altea on the Costa Blanca during the Easter Holidays.

 So life was secure and they were very comfortable. They had a lot of friends, chiefly through  the school that their daughter and son went to and a busy social life.

 

 

 And then all of a sudden things changed. Peter had been having intermittent headaches for the past month but didn’t take much notice of it – certainly not to take time off work to go to the Doctor. Jane had given him a box of Anadin to take to work just in case it became much worse.

 

 It was a Monday and the day began just like any other. Sophie was in her pyjamas in the kitchen making sandwiches for James to take to work. The kids were squabbling as usual. Richard was in the bedroom getting dressed.

 

 Then there was a big bang. It wasn’t like a vase dropping on the floor. It was somehow ominous, like a big bag of spuds falling. And it came from the bedroom.

 

 Alice’s heart fell. Someway instinct told her something wasreally wrong, very very wrong. In a jiffy she was up the stairs and pushed at the bathroom door. It shifted open a tiny bit and ceased. She pushed and pushed but something was preventing the door from opening further. She squeezed her head around the door and the blood seeped from her face. There was Simon stock still on the floor, crumpled up face down.

 

 For a few seconds she panicked. Then she just screamed and screamed

 

 It took 16 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and approximately 4 more minutes for the medics to diagnose that James  had just had a severe stroke. Would he survive? To be honest he was dangerously ill. The Doctors would be able to confirm how serious things were at the hospital.

 

 Peter did survive. He had five long months in the hospital followed by 5 more months at a expert rehabilitation centre. At first he was wheelchair bound but soon he began to walk slowly with the aid of a walking frame.

 

 But at age 38 he would never be able to work again.

 

 Does this seem to be your worst fear?

 

 figures show that two out of ten men and 2 out of ten women have a critical illness before retirement age. Richard was unlucky to have had a stroke so young but there are always risks like these in life.

 

 Joe’s  stoke came out of nowhere but millions of families do take out medical insurance to offer financial assistance should something like this transpire. It’s called Critical Illness Insurance. This kindof insurance gives out a tax free lump sum if the insured person is indentified with a critical illness. A typical insured sum would be in the £130,000 to 250,000 pound – it’s for the policyholder to decide. (What constitutes a “critical illness” is made clear within the insurance documents but they usually cover heart attack, cancer and stroke and normally many of other conditions and illnesses as well.)

 

 

 

 

 Life assurancecan’t help heal the stroke but it could certainly make sure that financially, things were tolerable.