An uncomfortable truth we all need to face
Posted by
Matt Hale
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It’s time to talk about an uncomfortable truth.
We’re not going to live forever.
And while our own mortality is something that many of us prefer not to think about, let alone plan for, the fact remains that tragedy can strike at any time, and injury and illness can happen to any person, regardless of age, health or occupation.
As we have recently seen in the media, not even emerging AFL star Jesse Hogan, an athlete whose livelihood is based around his health and fitness, was immune to the tragedies that can happen when we least expect them.
Hogan, a Melbourne Demons forward, was diagnosed with testicular cancer at just 22 years old – only weeks after his dad had passed away with cancer.
As shocking as it sounds, there are a number of cancers and other illnesses that affect young people, and the truth of the matter is that young, healthy people get sick too.
Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you no longer had the ability to care for yourself? Or were no longer able to earn an income to provide for your family?
It’s confronting, we get it. But it’s incredibly important to protect yours and your family’s futures.
Recently, a long-term client of Rising Tide client supported her husband through a devastating health crisis, and as you can imagine, their household finances were the last thing they wanted to have to worry about.
Mel has generously shared her family’s experience with us to help inspire others to take action on securing their futures.
When something sudden and traumatic happens to your family, the last thing on your mind, both at the time and in the wash up, are concrete things like finances and insurance cover.
In 2016, my husband suffered a massive cardiac arrest before my eyes in the car park of the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was only 39 years old and definitely not an obvious candidate for such a dramatic health crisis. I watched in shock as he stopped breathing and the chaotic movement of lifesaving activity swarmed around me. I don’t remember what happened as vividly as I once did, but there was a time when I couldn’t think of anything else.
To cut a long story short, he died for close to ten minutes, his life hanging in the balance somewhere painfully out of reach. But the amazing staff of the RMH, from the nurse who started CPR and prevented brain damage, to the off-duty cardiac registrar who happened to be walking by, brought him back.
It wasn’t his time that night. The subsequent days and weeks passed by in a blur. I wasn’t sleeping or eating much and I had a young daughter to look after as well as my slowly recovering husband.
Then one day Matt from Rising Tide called me. He’d heard about what had happened on Facebook. We’ve known him for a long time since becoming clients when our child was just born.
It’s fair to say that Matt has seen us go through a few ups and downs since the early days. Our daughter has special needs and our finances have taken a beating at times when I have left work to care for her.
When he was done asking if we were all okay, Matt turned the conversation to our trauma cover: “When you’re ready Mel, we can get the ball rolling on a claim.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, not being the most hands-on person with respect to our finances. So he explained it to me some more and I suddenly understood.
Matt had heard about our situation and as our long-time advisor was making sure we knew the steps to take to make a claim against our cover. Without that advice, we wouldn’t have had a clue what to do.
Maybe it doesn’t sound like much when you consider what we had been through, and in the scheme of things, to be alive and together again was more important than anything.
But the point is, when you invite people into your world to share some of the load, financial or otherwise, there is enormous comfort in knowing that they care and they know what you need in a crisis.
What I needed was reassurance and clear, positive guidance and that is exactly what Matt and his team gave me that day and in the months to come. They picked up the slack when I couldn’t and the end result made a massive difference to the future welfare of my family.
In the end, to me this story is about trust. Matt has seen me at the end of rope a few times; I’m no wallflower but I don’t show just anybody my pain or weakness unless I really have to.
But with Matt, it’s easy because he’s our friend as well as someone working with us to make life a little bit easier, however he can.
For more information on how you too can secure your family’s future, give us a call on 03 370 330 287 to set up an appointment with one of our experienced financial planners.