I'm dying of brain cancer at 39. But my insurance won't pay out because I had ... trends now
In June last year, Michelle Rendle woke in the middle of the night to find her husband, John, 39, having a seizure.
It was a shock to them both — the father of two had never experienced anything like it and was otherwise fit; he enjoyed playing golf and football.
The seizure lasted for 15 minutes and John was rushed to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford. He spent a week there, and for the following five months had consultations and MRI scans to ascertain what was wrong.
It was only in November that John found out it was cancer. A biopsy confirmed he had a grade two astrocytoma — a type of brain tumour.
Michelle Rendle woke in the middle of the night to find her husband, John, 39, having a seizure. They are parents to Oliver, five, and daughter Emilia, three
‘I hadn’t been having headaches,’ says John, who works in IT solutions for a printer and photocopier company. ‘The doctors say it could have been there for years. We had no idea.’
A craniotomy in December to remove more than half of the tumour revealed it had progressed to grade three, which meant it was fast-growing. ‘You don’t expect your husband to have brain cancer out of the blue at such a young age. That’s hard to take,’ Michelle, 37, says.
John has started to work from home. There has been no time frame put on his condition but he has been told it is life-shortening.
The couple, who celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary last month, had been smart enough to each take out a critical illness and life insurance policy as well as a joint life insurance policy when they first got a mortgage 11 years ago. These would protect the remaining partner and the couple’s children, Oliver, five, and Emilia, three, should either become seriously ill or die.
Payout rates for critical illness claims are typically high, with providers paying out for 91.6 pc of new claims in 2022 at an average of £66,296, according to the latest available data from the Association of British Insurers.
John expected to receive a lump sum of £25,000 from his critical illness cover with Zurich. He hoped to use this to create memories with his wife and children while he was still well enough. He sent his claim to Zurich in November after his diagnosis.
But Zurich’s response to the claim four months later left him in shock. It informed him that both his critical illness and life insurance policy and his joint life insurance policy with Michelle would be cancelled and the premiums refunded.
That would mean John would receive no critical illness payout and that the couple’s £150,000 mortgage would not be paid off by the joint policy should he die.
The insurer said that this was because there were differences in the information given by John when he applied for the insurance and that given by his GP about his health. It said it would have denied all cover if it was aware of all the information before the policies were issued.
The couple had policies in place for more than a decade and had previously been with the insurer Royal London. When their Royal London policy came up for renewal in January last year, they decided to switch to Zurich to get cheaper premiums and a higher assured sum on the life insurance policy.
But in February, John had a
