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.

We Can All Feel Lucky

Do You Feel Lucky?
My father has Parkinson’s disease, and his father before him had Parkinson’s disease.
In the words of Michael J. Fox, I am a lucky man. Fox titled his book “Lucky Man” because he felt he grew as a family man and human being because of his Parkinson’s disease. If you can believe it, he is grateful to the disease.

I may or may not get Parkinson’s disease, but I need to be aware of it. That awareness alone makes me grateful for what I have – a healthy family and time to enjoy with them.

Thinking Ahead
I am also lucky because my father acted in time to take care of himself. He did his research, and before he was at a stage in the disease where he would not be admitted, he and my mother moved into a life care community or a CCRC (continuing care retirement community) which offers three levels of living: independent, asssisted, and skilled nursing care. They are now ready for all the possible developments with the Parkinson’s.

Buying into the facility essentially provided them with long term care insurance. And now as his condition progresses it would become more difficult for him to buy into such insurance. They were wise to act when they did. They have secured their future care and peace of mind for our whole family.

Read the Warning Signs
Now I too am doing my research and will act before it is too late to secure my own family into their future, when I may or may not be able to do everything I can now. I am lucky to have such a clear warning sign in my family history.

Peace of Mind
We can all consider what is in our history that should be prompting us to act. But then, some things come without such clear warning signs, and we can all take steps to insure our family against those unknown events as well. My wish for you is that you have peace of mind about your family’s future, and you can enjoy each day you have with them, and feel lucky.