Read stories from the people who
have experienced Helping Hand

Fortunately she underwent successful treatment a month later, and was able to claim on her Bright Grey Life or Critical Illness Cover menu plan.

But the payment wasn't all she received from Bright Grey. She also had help from a personal nurse from RED ARC as part of Helping Hand, which Bright Grey includes with every menu plan. “RED ARC was a nice surprise,” she says. “In between hospital appointments I often felt left in the wilderness. But the phone calls from Anne, my personal nurse adviser, provided much needed support.”

53-year-old Sian, who is married with a teenage son, had seen information about Macmillan while at the hospital, but felt that they were for people much more seriously ill than her. “I didn't want to bother people,” she says. “I felt like I'd be a bit of a nuisance. But when I spoke to Anne from RED ARC I felt I could offload, and didn't feel guilty about it. It was much easier to speak to someone who was separate from the situation.”

Sian returned to her job as a lecturer 4 months after treatment, but she's still in touch with Anne who has given her practical advice about how to cope after treatment. “But it's been having a listening ear that's helped the most,” she says. “I feel like Anne acted as a really good emotional cushion.”

Sian says she was glad she and her husband made the decision to buy protection insurance. Although she admits there were times when she'd been tempted to cancel the plan. “You think it's never going to happen to you and you start to wonder why you're shelling out each month, especially if you're fit and healthy.”

Sian says the experience has changed her outlook. "Cancer changes everything, but so many people get through it. I am grateful to both the National Health Service and RED ARC for helping me. It's onwards and upwards for me.”

Andrea says the full realisation of her illness sank in slowly. It wasn’t until a few months later that the financial aspect really hit them. “I remember thinking ‘how will we manage?’”

Fortunately, Andrea and Andrew, a self-employed carpet fitter, had bought Life or Critical Illness Cover with Bright Grey and received her payment 2 months after claiming.

But support from Bright Grey isn’t just financial – Bright Grey gives every menu plan owner their own personal nurse adviser to support them through difficult times, as part of Helping Hand.

Jenny, Andrea’s RED ARC nurse, contacted her shortly after her diagnosis. She says. “It was great to be able to call on someone with a medical background. I knew Jenny would be able to give me an answer to things quickly.”

Having Jenny to speak to gave her an opportunity to ask questions she couldn’t ask anyone else. “She gave me health advice the hospital hadn’t. She prepared me for how it might feel when my hair fell out. She had the time to tell me everything I needed to know.

Andrea says that above all, she felt she could really trust Jenny. "Friends and family would say 'you'll get back to normal' but I wouldn't believe them. When Jenny said it, I knew it was true.” And Jenny was right. Now Andrea says she’s “firing on all cylinders" and is looking forward to returning to work.

The family have also used some of the claim payment to do something they'd always wanted to do - buy a camper van. "It was important for us all to have something to look forward to” says Andrea. “Buying the van has bought us a future. Now we can start to move on."

He had never imagined the value of Helping Hand would be experienced so close to home.

The cancer was operated on successfully but was then found to have spread into his blood vessels and aorta. As a result, James had to undergo over 3 months’ intense chemotherapy as an inpatient.

James had to take a year off work, and with just 6 weeks’ sick pay he was very grateful for the swift claim payment from Bright Grey.

But more importantly, James also received invaluable, hands-on support of a RED ARC nurse, provided by Helping Hand at no extra cost.

As David says, “The oncology department which looked after James was brilliant. But, after he was discharged, he would have had no one to talk to about his treatment until his next 3-month appointment.”

“Thanks to Bright Grey, just 2 weeks after his treatment, he spoke to a nurse from RED ARC who reassured him that what he was feeling was absolutely normal.”

David also says it wasn't just the support from Helping Hand that helped reassure his son.

"The service was absolutely superb. James wasn't sure whether he was eligible to make a claim, but our Bright Grey contact assured us his plan would pay out".

“The hemiplegic migraine caused temporary paralysis down one side of my body and I felt so debilitated I couldn't work. I was discharged from hospital after the diagnosis, but felt very much alone.

Fortunately before I’d become ill I'd taken out a Critical Illness Cover plan with Bright Grey. Although my diagnosis wasn’t for a critical illness, I could still use the Helping Hand service to get better.

My nurse arranged for me to have a series of body balancing sessions and suddenly I started to recover. I had 12 sessions in total, during which my vertebrae were put back in place, and some reiki treatments for stress – and the cost was all included in my plan. My therapist says that it would have taken 3 to 4 years to get better without this help.

When you take out insurance you hope you're never going to need it. But I can honestly say that without Helping Hand I wouldn’t be where I am today."

“Not long after he passed away my adviser pointed out that Paul had Life Cover with Bright Grey, which meant that not only did I receive a payout from them, but I also benefitted from the support of my own nurse adviser as part of Helping Hand.

The support I received was invaluable. When my nurse Sue first contacted me I was still in shock. I was suffering from feelings of loss, guilt, and quite often, desperation. Sometimes I felt as if I was going mad. Sue helped me talk through what I was feeling and gave me coping strategies to help.

She also arranged a course of specialist bereavement counselling that started straight away.

I’ve had 4 sessions with my counsellor so far. It’s such a relief to be able to explore my feelings with someone outside the family, and to have the reassurance that what I’m going through is normal. I’m often still sad and tearful, but I’m so grateful to be talking to people who care, and who can really make a difference.

Helping Hand is a brilliant service and means the world to me. I’d like to thank whoever set it up as it’s an excellent thing.”