Family holiday when terminally ill

Hi Sian, Sorry to meet you here but just to give you some positive thoughts......I was diagnosed with stage4 MMM in May 2013 and went on a family  holiday the following Jan for 3 weeks! We wanted to go for slightly longer but that was the maximum time I could get Insurance for and I wouldn't go without it! I was on a Target Drug Trial just before immunotherapy was out and that would have been what i would have moved on to if the Trial hadnt worked! 

There are several Groups here on this site on Insurance and Travel Insurance you should look at. I phoned 11 companies before i got one who would give me a reasonable quote! However, all you need is one! Maybe go into Groups and do a search! Things have changed a lot this year bbecause of Coronavirus and we have had to cancel 3 family holidays and two short breaks this year and we have moved our annual holiday from Feb/Mar 2021 until the following year because of travel restrictions.

Please let me know how you get on and instead of thinking Terminal think Incurable, there is a huge difference and if you are having treatment, they must think it will work for you or they would not give you it! My oncologist cannot believe I am still here as  many others who went on the trial drug werent as lucky! 

Since i was diagnosed there have been lots of new drugs, tried and tested, so think positively! Good luck!

Hi 

I'm also so sorry to meet you here, I'd rather it was elsewhere but here we are.

I don't know what type of holiday you would like to have. Unfortunately because of Covid 19, many holiday companies are in hibernation. I would also like to have a great holiday to remember but being an extremely vulnerable person I know I would struggle to find a reasonable quote for insurance. There is a dedicated Travel Insurance group in the community where you'll find others have suggested insurance companies that gave good quotes for them.

My wife wouldn't contemplate a holiday with me in my condition. I know not to even suggest going anywhere. My consultant has emphasized that I must stay within Europe if I do decide to go anywhere, she told us in no uncertain terms that should something go wrong health-wise, I would die. Our daughter in Peterborough is expecting her second child in May and we're unsure if we'll be able to travel from Northern Ireland for that. 

Back to suggestions for you though, if you're fond of the natural world them how about an Alaskan cruise or a cruise to the Galapagos Islands? If you'd prefer the heat then possibly a Mediterranean cruise. If considering a holiday in a European country, Italy would be splendid.

Something for you to ponder on, Sian.

Tvman x

i have just been told i have stage 4 had radiotherapy for 1 week  next week i start chemotherapy and immuatherapy im guessing only 1 coarse of each to start i just wanted to sign the paper never asked but when im able we would love to go on a cruise but how bad is insurance in our situations where would we look i hope Sian you sort your family holiday and you have a wonderful time live life to the full x 

Hi Donc, we used to cruise every year until the tick in the terminal box put paid to that!

We the found " insurancewith", An hour at least phone consultation and when they are sure you are not going to expire on their boat we got a reasonable quote.

Of course then the cruise was cancelled!

Try them when you are ready, good luck with your treatments.

anndanv. You are so right.  There is a massive difference between incurable and terminal.  I know one day will come but until there is no further treatment available and things have gone out of control I’m incurable xx

Hi Donc,  I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think! The first insurance company who would give me a quote, my husband and I actually laughed ouut loud while I was on the speaker phone to the company! They quoted £9,000 for a four week stay in Spain in January!! I told him we were going on holiday we didnt want to BUY property! LOL!  Then after a few more calls, someone told me that 3 weeks was the maximum time I'd be allowed out of this country! If the first person had told me that, it would have been an easier search! Anyway the last quote was from MIA and was £250 they only cover Europe and you need your GP or Oncologists permission to say you could handle the trip! My onc said if I felt like going, that was enough for her!

Sian, One of The Group names is Travel Insurance Forum for Cancer Patients. You probably need to join that group to see the Discussions but it lets you know which companies etc and has lots of information.

Hi YoungMan, Yes you are right, if you are on or about to have ANY treatment then you are not terminal but incurable! I was only terminal at my first appointment at oncology, since then i have never used the word when referring to myself!

Donc, good luck with your treatment. The problem with cruises now is we are no longer in the EU once Brexit is done and dusted so that could make things more difficult. We have been lucky and even managed to go to St. Petersburg, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sicily, etc etc cruising and all after my stage4 diagnosis! At first I was told not to fly, so we went by train to Newcastle then overnight ferry to Amsterdam. Then by train to Southampton staying the night before and after the cruise in a local hotel, so that I would be well rested!  Where there's a will there's a way! As long as you can afford it that is! Well we thought, what else will we get the chance to spend money on! We got insurance for each trip.

Hi Sianw1970, I was diagnosed as incurable with metastatic melanoma back in 2015, I haven’t been abroad since then, but the temptation has been there as one of my daughters lives in Japan. I was unsure about replying before as I have not been away. The link for the insurance group people have mentioned is Travel insurance forum for cancer patients. 

My oncologist has previously said I am well enough to go, and ok to delay treatment, a delay for me last Christmas meant missing the next treatment rather than delaying by a week or two, as spaces for treatment were and always have been at a premium. I think that is even more so now as I currently have mine on a Sunday as there were no spaces left on the usual Friday. You now have to factor in when might your 2 covid vaccinations be due and are you prepared to delay that vaccine, if you have to quarantine for 2 weeks after you come back will that delay your next treatment and are you prepared to delay it. Immunotherapy can be a game changer, and can give a complete response for months and many years.

You haven’t completed your profile yet so I’m thinking you are still at the early stages of treatment, I know at that stage I wanted to give my treatment every chance of succeeding. By my 21st month of continuous treatment I felt (as I was then a complete responder) that I would love a break a treatment. That break off treatment for me lasted for a year, back in 2017, going back onto treatment when it returned again. If you are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable like I am the current advice, depending on which tier you are in, is to not use public transport, and to limit your contact with others. A drs letter is needed I believe for any medication you need to take with you. 

If you didn’t want to go in Feb but later in the year covid may not be as much of an issue, your husband may be able to move his holiday dates. Can you holiday in the U.K., would that be an amazing holiday especially if you had lots of experiences you haven’t done before? My first holiday in the U.K. after diagnosis was on a boat, I had never piloted one, and not opened locks before. My daughter when she visited from Japan we organised some experience days locally and a week away in a different area, new things to see. For my 60th birthday I would have loved to have seen the autumn leaves in Japan but my safer option was time away in Norfolk visiting National Trust properties walking through the autumn leaves there. 

I am not saying you shouldn’t go, just showing that I haven’t been and that may make you more determined to go or make you prepared to explore other options. 

Hi KT, Great to see you post again. Of course you are right, there is so much more to think about these days when thinking of a holiday abroad. It was so different when we went. In saying that I did mention to Sian I think that this coming January/February we are NOT going to Spain for the first time in a long time as it's definitely not worth the risk the way things stand. For. Something to look forward to we have booked a family weekend in Crieff for end May. This is only about an hour or less in the car from where we live but it is just the fact you away with the family that counts!    We were very lucky when we got away but the treatment always came first and we booked in between monthly oncology appointments but now there is Covid etc to think of it is much more difficult. Also I was on oral drugs, (I was on them for over 3 years)   so I could take them with me and not the infusions.

I wonder Sian have you thought of just booking a cottage for the family somewhere near where you live (wherever that may be)!! I also looked at your profile page but maybe you havent had a chance to fill it in yet! It is the people who make it anyway and not the place! Please let us know how you are doing now things have maybe settled slightly!

Hi there's lots of good advice here. We had a family holiday in Greece and my husband and I went to Lanzarote with a Terminal Cancer diagnosis.

The diagnosis was given as it was thought likely that cancer would cause my death in months rather than years, and any treatment was for symptom relief. 

The travel company would only offer insurance if my prognosis was at least 6 months from the date of our return, and my Consultant agreed to that, providing we were staying within Europe 

One tip that was helpful is it's always better to speak to the insurance company yourself rather than do anything online. Boots have an insurance policy specifically for people in our position and were extremely helpful. It was also very straightforward.

This was before Covid which complicates things.

Wishing you the very best of luck.

xx

everyone gives such great advice on this forum all so helpful xx hugs xx