Breast cancer survivor stories

by Taryn Davies | 4 October 2011

Sam and her husband Daryl with their children

The chances are big that cancer will affect our lives at some point, whether it's ourselves or a family member or friend going through it, we'll feel the strain too.

Have you ever considered what might happen if you were to be diagnosed with it?

With the news that one in eight women have a lifetime risk of breast cancer, Chartis Direct has experienced increased interest in its cancer insurance products WellWoman and CancerCare.

Swimming instructor Sam, 38 of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk benefitted from WellWoman when she was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. Herself and her husband, Daryl, had save up enough money to take their two little girls on holiday to America when she discovered a lump. She says: "All of a sudden your life stops, and you think: Oh my God, I've got cancer."

Sam has two grade three tumours. Within two weeks she was rushed into hospital for a left mastectomy. "The impact od being diagnosed with cancer is not just something that you just go in and have an operation. You have your operations, you have the chemotherapy. It takes a year, 18 months, in my case a little bit longer, out your life."

Ten years previously, a WellWoman advert had caught her attention because she had lost close relatives to breast cancer. She took out the insurance and just put it to the back of her ming. The pay out on diagnosis made all the difference for Sam. Without the money it would have been a really tough time; her husband would have hat to work more hours, leaving Sam on her own a lot of the time. The support came at a time when family became the most important. Despite the massive impact of her treatment, WellWoman enabled her life to go on as normally as possible for her husband and her two daughters. "You know, it helps you, money does help a lot."

Breast cancer sufferer Sophie, 41 of Salisbury, Wiltshire also benefitted from WellWoman when she was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2010. She was signed off for six weeks for a left mastectomy, but was eventually off for six months. Family is always at the forefront of people’s lives when they get the diagnosis of cancer, but especially for women, who have to get used to being looked after, as well as helping their family to cope.

Sophie comments: “I was quite accepting of it, but the emotional side of having to deal with how my family reacted was much much harder; my eldest daughter cried her eyes out and was absolutely inconsolable for quite a few days, and my son withdrew into himself and actually dropped out of college. Initially I found that I was in the position of having to cheer up everyone else around me.

“My support network was brilliant, I don’t have much family close by, but I do have good friends. You talk to them on a whole other level... Scars, illness, throwing up.

“I’ve made new friendships amongst other women with breast cancer that I think will last our lifetime”

However it’s not just the emotional side that cancer sufferers have to deal with, as there can be financial implications too. Years ago Sophie’s bank manager had been concerned about her lack of insurance. “Literally every time he saw me he was telling me to take out critical illness cover ...which is all very well but some critical insurance cover would have taken up a tenth of my salary and I just simply couldn’t afford that. We don’t have that type of disposable income.”

When two of Sophie’s friends were diagnosed with breast cancer, she decided that she needed to take action. Sophie found Chartis cancer insurance online and chose WellWoman’s Premier Cover – a more affordable alternative which provided a cash payout of £50,000 upon diagnosis; “If I was off work for even two years we’d have been fine...We put most of it into a savings account against the future, because we don’t know what that’s going to bring.”

The cash payout allowed her to focus on the important business of getting better, because day to day expenses were dealt with easily and she also had some money for her future. Sophie has used some of her payout to keep her and her family’s spirits up by spending valuable quality time together: “We’re going to take the family on holiday this year and it will our first family holiday in 8 years, so we’re going to go to France and then on to Eurodisney for a couple of days. ... The other side of it was my husband was able to take six weeks off work to look after me through the worst of the chemotherapy.”

Commenting on Sam and Sophie’s stories, Amanda Evans, spokesperson for WellWoman, says: “We think about the emotional impact of cancer, but quite often it is the financial impact that we need extra help with, while undergoing treatment. Our cancer insurance products empower women like Sam and Sophie by giving them extra money and choice at a time when they may feel most out of control. For a woman in her late 30’s, monthly premiums are a similar price to a couple of magazines, but the policy gives huge reassurance.”