I recently attended a workshop on the importance of protecting yourself and those you love, in the event of a critical illness, such as cancer, a heart attack or stroke. At one point in the workshop the presenter had asked everyone to stand up, and then asked those to sit down who have had a close family member affected by any of the three listed diseases above, more than 65% of the room sat down. Then the presenter asked the remaining standing, how many close friends have been affected by any of the above three diseases, and the remaining people then sat down.

It did not surprise me to see the amount of people whom have been affected by or known someone whose been affected by a Critical Illness. Just this week I found myself consoling my oldest son, as he explained to me, that one of his best friend’s mother was  fighting a very difficult battle with cancer, one which she would not win. Sure enough after only a few days, we were informed of the mothers passing and the effect it had had on the family. She was not an old woman; she was a young 43 year old mother of two beautiful young children, aged only 8 & 5.

I remember my own mothers passing, as she battled cancer for 12 years before finally succumbing to the disease at her age of 55. I thought of how incredibly difficult it must be for the two young children, as I can still remember my own feeling of emptiness when my mother passed away.

Instead of becoming a secondary victim to this disease, I focused on helping others deal with this tragedy, by helping them prepare for it.

Here are two ways to best prepare yourself and your family for a Critical Illness in the future;

1.    Best Doctors®

www.bestdoctorscanada.com

The Best Doctors service was established out of Harvard Medical School in 1989 with one purpose in mind, to give a person who has been diagnosed with a serious illness, the guidance and support needed to access the best possible medical care, or to make important decisions about their health and treatment options. This is more than a second opinion; Best Doctors delivers a complete and methodical understanding of your medical condition by providing actionable information to you and your treating physician, so you can make better decisions about your care together. With a global network of over 50,000 specialists they are able to give alternative advice that your treating physician may not have considered. This will give you the peace of mind that all options for treatment and recovery have been fully examined.

2.    Invest in Critical Illness Insurance

Most people we work with see the value of Life Insurance to protect their families when they are no longer able to, but what about protecting you? Critical Illness Insurance is a living benefit insurance, it is meant to provide you and your family with one lump sum tax free benefit, so you may face your challenges head on without any financial worries.

The money is meant to protect your finances and give you options in the event of a Critical Illness. The insurance is meant to pay out in one of three ways. If you become critically injured the face amount is paid to you, if you remain healthy throughout your entire life, all your money is paid back to you, or if you die without having a critical illness, then the money you had invested in the contract is returned to your family. By using this type of protection you ensure that if you are afflicted by one of the covered diseases (23 covered conditions), money will not be a problem, and only the disease will be the problem.

When we help an Individual or a Family prepare for the future, we integrate both of the above noted tools into our solution because in Truth, if we could buy ourselves healthy we would spend every last dollar we had to restore our health. The fact of it is that people should prepare for it in an intelligent and cost effective manner, so that you have every advantage available to survive and make it through the darkest of days.