The moment everything changes - for health and money

Welcome to the second episode of this three-part series from Scottish Widows in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support. The number of people living with and beyond cancer is projected to reach 5.4 million in the UK alone by 2045. This series will dive into the stats and personal stories of what rising cancer prevalence is likely to mean for advice conversations now and in the future. For part two, Jasmine Astley, business development manager at Scottish Widows is joined by Nick Dixon who shares his very personal account of what it was like being diagnosed with cancer. -- "You're thrown into a whole world of uncertainty when you're diagnosed because you don't really know what it means then or what it's going to mean in the future, what it's going to mean for you as a family. And then ultimately you think - what's it going to mean for my finances? "Am I going to be able to work? How long do I continue working? Do I continue working through treatment? Am I going to be cured? At that point, you just don't know. You don't know anything." Nick Dixon, cancer survivor and storyteller for Macmillan Cancer Support While many of us like to believe we are immune from getting cancer, the reality is cancer is likely to affect us all at some point. Whether we get diagnosed ourselves or support someone we hold dear through their journey after hearing those dreadful words: 'You've got cancer'. Over the next 20 years the number of people living with and beyond cancer is projected to rise by 58%, reaching 5.4 million in the UK. Personal stories of what people have been through really makes it hit home that we can't afford to avoid difficult conversations about the C-word. Over the course of 2021, Nick Dixon had been experiencing blood in his semen. Initially he put it down to having previously had two vasectomies. Eventually he thought he better go and see the GP. Once he did, Nick's doctor immediately put Nick on the cancer pathway, which suddenly saw him have to undergo a number of tests. Nick explains that was scary in itself. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2022 and had surgery in September of that year on his 51st birthday to have his prostate removed. That wasn't the end of it for Nick and the cancer came back. He tells Jasmine what that was like for him and his family and the journey they have all been on since then. In this extremely honest conversation, Nick shared that on the day of the recording he had received a letter saying his most recent prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test had gone back up so he was back in the uncertain situation of waiting to see if the cancer had returned after around 18 months of it being relatively clear. "That in itself tells you that cancer can often be there, it's definitely going to be there with you for life, that whole experience and it can throw all sorts of curve balls at you," Nick says. While understandably it wasn't the main focus after getting his diagnosis, Nick shares that it wasn't too long before him and his wife considered what it was all going to mean for their financial situation. He recalls the 'lightbulb' moment when they remembered they had critical illness cover. "And so we put that into motion, we claimed, and lucky or unlucky, depending how you look at it, it was a serious enough diagnosis for them [the insurance provider] to pay out with almost no quibbles." Nick admits he had previously been tempted to cancel the policy and kept coming back to the idea when looking through the payments on his monthly bank statements. But he shares what a 'game changer' having the protection in place turned out to be and how in a way it was 'quite liberating'. Nick's story demonstrates just how powerful personal stories are. He suggests financial advisers should make more use of real examples of how protection has helped families going through a difficult time. "People like me and other people who maybe doubted the reasons for buying in the first place, but then thanked their lucky stars when they realised they had it and they were able to claim on it."