Originally published 6 March 2019
“When you get diagnosed with a terminal illness or a permanent disability the last thing you want to have to do is worry about an insurance claim or gathering information to make it.”
Imagine having a wife and young family, a demanding high-level professional career, then being diagnosed with a terminal illness and told you perhaps have only 12 months left to live.
Imagine living with that “death sentence” hanging over your head for another 16-years as you continue to strive to work to provide for your young family, your ability to work is diminished over time and you are undertaking exhausting treatments to deal with your medical condition.
That is the awful scenario that John [name changed to protect client privacy] has had to deal with since his original brain tumour diagnosis in 2003.
To make matters worse, John’s initial attempts to claim on insurance through his then financial adviser were unsuccessful.
John was not an AFRM client but people who knew what we do suggested he reach out to us - and that is exactly what he did back in 2016.
After hearing what John had been going through, we took up his case and proceeded to resume the insurance claims process on his behalf.
By July 2017, we succeeded in achieving a $998,000 Terminal Illness claim for him and by August the same year we had been successful in getting further claims approved which resulted in John ultimately receiving a total of in excess of $2.27 million in claims payments.
At the time, John kindly provided the following words to describe the service and support provided to him by AFRM:
“When you get diagnosed with a terminal illness or a permanent disability the last thing you want to have to do is worry about an insurance claim or gathering information to make it. “Rob Vitnell [General Manager of AFRM Victoria] and his team took over that task for me. They kept me constantly informed and updated me as to the progress of my claims. “In the last week, I received notification my claims have been successful. “As a result, I no longer have to worry about my family’s security, or the financial future for them, which is a great relief and something I really appreciate.”
AFRM’s, Rob Vitnell, spoke about the personal satisfaction felt after achieving the best possible outcome for someone like John:
“When I called to tell him, he could barely speak. …just enough to thank us for our advice and hard work in fighting these insurance claims for him and his family.
“The main take away from my conversation with John was that we had provided his family with ‘choices’; that they would now have ‘no debts’ and after all those years of continuing to work through exhausting medical treatments, there was now a chance that perhaps he wouldn’t have to work anymore.
“He said it was ‘a massive weight off my shoulders.’
“It was powerful stuff!
“It is immensely gratifying to know that our work makes a huge difference in people’s lives.”