Handling dying....

This girl does it quite well... http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stupidcancershow/2011/09/13/season-nine-premiere

Listen to the part where Jolene tells her story.

At the end of the day, we will all die. Guaranteed. All we can do is enjoy the time we have been given. I'd also recommend getting a dread disease policy in place. Mine's through Old Mutual and I just need to survive for 14 days. It's not often that you'll be told you have 3 weeks. It's usually a few months.

Another interesting thing my advisor told me is if your life insurance is through Old Mutual and you're given less than 12 months to live, they pay out. That's pretty cool.

I would urge everyone to get at least some insurance sorted while you're still healthy. It'll suck being diagnosed with something because that renders you uninsurable. Another interesting idea is future cover. Basically, you pay a small premium every month to insure yourself at your current health level. If you wish to take out insurance later, no need to go for a medical.
 
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Nocturnity said:
This girl does it quite well... http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stupidcancershow/2011/09/13/season-nine-premiere

Listen to the part where Jolene tells her story.

At the end of the day, we will all die. Guaranteed. All we can do is enjoy the time we have been given. I'd also recommend getting a dread disease policy in place. Mine's through Old Mutual and I just need to survive for 14 days. It's not often that you'll be told you have 3 weeks. It's usually a few months.

Another interesting thing my advisor told me is if your life insurance is through Old Mutual and you're given less than 12 months to live, they pay out. That's pretty cool.

I would urge everyone to get at least some insurance sorted while you're still healthy. It'll suck being diagnosed with something because that renders you uninsurable. Another interesting idea is future cover. Basically, you pay a small premium every month to insure yourself at your current health level. If you wish to take out insurance later, no need to go for a medical.
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Blocked - didn't know about the 12 month thing - I must check it out... but what happens if you don't die in the period? Or miraculously don't die at all :p

Future cover is also interesting... will look into it.

My biggest issue is just coming to terms with knowing you won't be around in a month... I'd prefer getting old, and loosing my mind :p
 
xrapidx said:
Blocked - didn't know about the 12 month thing - I must check it out... but what happens if you don't die in the period? Or miraculously don't die at all :p

Future cover is also interesting... will look into it.

My biggest issue is just coming to terms with knowing you won't be around in a month... I'd prefer getting old, and loosing my mind :p
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But what if you lose everything except your mind?

My dad has had a couple of strokes in the last week, and to be honest the thought of him living is as scary as the thought of him dying. He is still 100% there, except he cant talk and one side of him is completely lame.
I can see he is scared shtless. If he does live what do I do with him? Stick him in a home to be cared for by people who dont care about him? I'm his only family other than my uncles who are older than him.

Hell.
 
Madman88 said:
But what if you lose everything except your mind?

My dad has had a couple of strokes in the last week, and to be honest the thought of him living is as scary as the thought of him dying. He is still 100% there, except he cant talk and one side of him is completely lame.
I can see he is scared shtless. If he does live what do I do with him? Stick him in a home to be cared for by people who dont care about him? I'm his only family other than my uncles who are older than him.

Hell.
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Good-point - but I'm assuming he's reasonably old? I'm just saying, I don't want to go early... I also don't want to be stuck in a body I can't do anything with when I'm old.
 
xrapidx said:
Good-point - but I'm assuming he's reasonably old? I'm just saying, I don't want to go early... I also don't want to be stuck in a body I can't do anything with when I'm old.
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He's 64 now, not really old enough.
 
Lots of people are actually also dying from heart attacks. I've heard it so many times. They say they have a slight pain and BAM! They're gone. Scary shyte.
 
I was discussing it with someone the other day - apparently when you die you still have to pay your bond - and usually it takes up to 3 months to settle your estate, so your loved ones will be responsible for your debt in that time - else the debtors will claim from your estate.
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It can take a lot longer than that, depending on the testament and outside factors. If there are claims against the estate it can be quite drawn out, sometimes for over a year.

Make sure who the lawyers are that handle the case. Let me relate two incidents:
The husband died and for months the widow heard nothing about the estate. Each time she phoned the lawyers she got the same old same old, the courts this the insurance company that, etc.
A pastor friend of mine went to visit her again and heard of her troubles (at this stage it was almost 9 months), and he got to work trying to sort it out. He found out from the company that they dealt with that all the policies and savings had been paid out in full into the lawyers' account months ago.
He confronted (newspaper and lawsuit) the lawyers and they finally agreed to pay out the money, prime interest +1 and some amount for damages (IIRC she had to give up on the place they had because of the estate not getting settled). They held back the money to skim off the interest all those months!

The second one was a man who got a letter from the bank that he owed them a ridiculous amount of money in debt. Being old a frail, the man had a heart attack when reading this and died. His lawyer friend took on the estate and the bank laid a claim to the amount owing. He knew his friend well, he handled all their affairs (very small town and the man that passed away was wealthy), and could not recollect him ever having this kind of debt. He then had the estate audited and surprise surprise, it was the bank owing the estate millions in dodgy transactions related to interest earned over all the years the man banked with them.

I have yet to hear of an estate being settled without some kind of hiccup. Make sure, if you are getting older or if you know you do not have long to live, that you have a bank account (32 days fixed deposit for example) that has a bit of money for the loved ones that stay behind that they can use in case of emergency or need. Make sure your spouse has full access to this account beforehand.

Rent. medical bills, all your bills that needs settling (phone, municipal, car, clothing accounts, etc.), until the estate is handled in full they are going to need all the help they can get.
 
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I'm 28, don't own a car, am single, don't have any debt (except for R500 on my Edgars account), and pay rent on a month to month basis. If I were to be told I would die in three weeks, I would:

- Spend a week with my family and friends, and give people a chance to say goodbye.
- Ensure that my few material possessions/savings are properly dealt with.
- Disappear and spend my last week/and a half of my life probably doing crazy drugs and hookers.
 
xrapidx said:
Over the past two years, I've run into multiple people or heard of people that go to the doctor with some minor pain or issue, e.g. stomach pain, a headache, etc - and walk out with the doctor having told them they have stage IV cancer, and have around 3 weeks left...
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So at the end of the day - moral of story , dont go doctors for minor problems, better not to know. :)
 
Nanfeishen said:
So at the end of the day - moral of story , dont go doctors for minor problems, better not to know. :)
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:D I never go to Doctors, I get dragged there....

Just been reading up on it - most stories I've found are about people who've been given an estimated 3 weeks - and its 3+ years later.

Scary stuff - I just don't like the idea of not having a fighting chance - and I'm pretty sure in SA the medical aids will not assist in giving you one if you're deemed terminal... they probably know that by the time you finished fighting them, it'll be to late.
 
Last time I checked, dread desease cover had a 12 months waiting period? unless if I'm mistaken?
 
zippy said:
I don't think it's true that your loved ones will be responsible for your debt. Debt cant be imposed on someone without their consent. Your spouse may already be jointly liable. Maybe that's what you mean? It's your estate that will be responsible. Worse that can happen is that your loved ones get nothing from the estate. Depending how you are married, your spouse may share the debt. That could be a problem for your spouse.
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worst that can happen is your loved ones being homeless if they refuse to take over the debts & the assets are sold to settle debt
 
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