Stuff Your Boss

 The Murrarys were  an everyday family.Sophie was the homemaker, Neil had a secure job driving for Pickfords. They’d been together for 13 years and had a daughter aged 8 and a daughter aged 5 and a lived in a detached house in Bramhall in the North of England. They were thinking of going on holiday to Altea on the Costa Blanca next year.

 So life was secure and they were very comfortable. They had good friends, mainly through  the school that their daughter and son attended and a good social life.

 And then all of a sudden things changed. Joe had been having mild headaches for the past two weeks but hadn’t thought much about it – certainly not to have time off work to go to the Doctor. Sophie had given him a packet of Anadin to take to work just in case it became much worse.

 It was a Wednesday and the day began just like any other. Susan was in her pyjamas in the kitchen making a snack lunch for Simon to take to work. The children were disagreeing as usual. Peter was in the bedroom getting dressed.

 Then there was a tremendous thump. It wasn’t like a vase dropping on the floor. It was somehow ominous, like a large bag of potatoes falling. And it came from the bedroom.

 Gemma’s heart fell. Somehow instinct told her something wasreally wrong, very very wrong. In a second she was up the stairs and pressed to the bedroom door. It shifted open a foot or so and stopped. She pushed and pushed but something was stopping the door from opening any more. She wedged her head around the door and the blood drained from her face. There was Simon motionless on the floor, crumpled up face down.

 For a moment she tensed. Then she cried out in fright

 It took 16 minutes for the ambulance to come and approximately four more minutes for the ambulance crew to confirm that Joe  had just had a severe stroke. Would he get better? To be frank he was very ill. The Consultant would be able to confirm how serious things were at the infirmary.

 James did did get well again. He had four lengthy months in the infirmary followed by two more months at a expert rehabilitation centre. To begin with he was wheelchair dependant but later he began to walk small distances with the aid of a walking frame.

 But at the age of 33 he would never be fit to work again.

 Does this seem to be your worst fear?

 figures show that men and 2 out of ten women experience a critical illness before their normal retirement age. Peter 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 a large proportion of families do have insurance policies to providesupply financial help should something like this crop up. It’s called Critical Illness Insurance. This sortof insurance pays out a tax free lump sum if the insured is indentified with a critical illness. A characteristicly insured sum would be in the £130,000 to £250,000 – it’s for the insured to fix. (What denotes a “critical illness” is is outlined within the policy documents but they almost always cover heart attack, cancer and stroke and usually loads of other illnesses and conditions as well.)

 Life Insurancecan’t help mend the stroke but it could make sure that financially, things were satisfactory.