Do You Have an Illness, or Does it Have You?

Do You Have an Illness, or Does it Have You?

After yesterday’s blog about health care reform needing to address bankruptcy caused by medical expenses, I wanted to make clearthat you have hope and you can be in control of your future. There is nothing inevitable about having a major illness send you to financial ruin.

Careful planning can cover these exposed gaps – and this is an example of where the “Living Benefits” solution I discussed in an earlier blog could prevent this ruin.

Then yesterday my dad sent me an article about Bill Trewin, a Canadian man with Parkinson’s disease. He had been running marathons before he was diagnosed with PD, and found that he was in danger of stumbling if he kept up his normal running.

Did he give up and go crawl in a hole? No, as Bill says in the article, “I have Parkinsons…it does not have me.”

He moved on to a different sport, Nordic walking, which allows him to get the same great exercise, but also gave him the stability of using poles while he walks. If you check out the Nordic walking site, you’ll learn how great this is for your bones, back, and posture, and can provide a workout of any intensity level.

It is important to find solutions with the help of a team or community. Working with others, often experts in the fields, we can have problems and not let them have us.