Sea's Story

Life threw Sea a curve when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer just one week after discovering that his partner, Liz, was expecting their second child.

“Just the not knowing where it’s going to end up, where’s the story going to end, that was the most stressful thing, especially with a baby on the way”.

For Sea, 44, the main stressors from the diagnosis centred on his family’s wellbeing, as well as making sure they kept the family home, which Sea had secured as a first home buyer, his father acting as guarantor to the loan.

“There were a lot of thoughts – not so much about myself - but about security for the boys and making sure that Liz and the boys had a roof over their heads, and they were going to be fed. That the mortgage was going to be paid if I wasn’t working or if I wasn’t going to be in the picture anymore”.

Fortunately, Sea had been offered protection by his mortgage broker and had an ALI Group policy in place. When Sea underwent surgery to remove tumours in his bowel, he was able to recover quickly enough to be back at work within seven weeks. This meant that the payout of Sea’s trauma benefit claim could not only cover the time Sea took off work to recover, but there was also enough to cover renovations to the family home.

If his broker had not brought up the topic of protection and had a solution to offer, Sea believes that neither he nor his partner would have considered taking out this type of cover:

“If I hadn’t been offered that insurance policy through the broker, I would definitely not have sought it anywhere else. It probably wouldn’t have really come to mind. I wouldn’t have even thought of it. If we didn’t have the insurance in place, it would have been a lot tougher. There would have been a lot less money and a lot more stress. It saved us. It absolutely saved us.”

Sea’s “straightforward” claim experience with ALI Group has made Sea an advocate of protection:

“When friends have asked me about getting a property, I’ve recommended straight up that they should get protection because it’s just been such a positive thing for us really. Without it, it would have been a lot harder.”