Barlow Irvin’s Protection Specialist, Jade Winstanley, is here to help. Friday 4th February marks World Cancer Day. Jade reflects on a personal experience about how cancer has affected her very own family.
The big C is still so scary to us all in this day and age. I’ve been so lucky not experience cancer in my family. Because of this, I’ve always put it to the back of my mind.
Being from such a close family, my aunties and uncles are my second mums and dads. Any boyfriends I’ve had, have not only had to get through my mum and dad but also my aunties and uncles and we always say how we feel.
Today is World Cancer Awareness Day, and with a heavy heart, I now have to say that my lovely Auntie Amanda is now fighting cancer. Cancer touches everyone’s lives – affecting one in two, so I want to share her story (she’s okay with my telling you all).
My Auntie is 51 years of age and has always been fit and active. She had endometriosis, so the best thing for her was to remove her womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries.
Of course, as a family, we were worried, as we would be with any family member having surgery. The operation was a success, and she was healing nicely.
After the operation, the doctors did a biopsy and discovered stage 2A cancer. Hearing the word “cancer” associated with my family is shocking, even though I talk about this horrible disease every day to my clients. To hear that my own auntie has it – scared me silly.
My Auntie Amanda is due to go to Christies and fingers crossed it hasn’t spread, we are yet to get the information on the treatment. But it’s highly likely she will have to have chemotherapy and possibly loose her hair. I’m dealing with her claim for critical illness and even though she was off work following her operation, she received six months’ full pay and six months half pay. This money will mean a lot to her, as she no longer has to worry about going back to work throughout her treatment.
As you can image, for such a close family, this news has devastated us all. We never saw it coming, we know that my Auntie Amanda is such a strong person, we know that she will come through this.
I knew I loved my job, talking people through the “what ifs”. However, I didn’t ever think that my family would be the “what if”. We have all seen some of the heart-breaking Stand Up To2 Cancer stories, and our thoughts go to the families, and I feel it’s a privilege to help my clients protect their families as well. Now, more than ever, I understand how important my job is.
For more information about World Cancer Day, please head over to Cancer Research UK to see how you can get involved.
In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like advice about how to protect you and your family through our range of critical illness and life protection products.
Photo credit: Cancer Research UK