How small mercies can help families cope

An everyday playground accident led to a life-changing diagnosis for the Koch family, from Midrand, Johannesburg. “Our son, Cayden, was four when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia last year,” says Bianka Koch.

When the little boy fell at his playschool and hurt his arm, the family would have never guessed it would take the turn it did. “Cayden complained about pain in his arm for a long time after the fall. He had spiking fevers, kept saying his arm was sore and the fever came back repeatedly.”

Several paediatrician visits, x-rays and tests finally led the family down the correct paths of diagnosis. “The first paediatrician said the pain was due to his tonsils being inflamed, but I didn’t agree. Another paediatrician said there was a hairline fracture on the arm, but orthopaedic surgeon wasn’t sure that was the reason for the pain. Meanwhile, the fevers got worse. A sonar on his arm found septic arthritis but we were told to do blood tests, and that is when the results showed leukaemia.”

Life changed immediately for Cayden and his family that includes his mum, his dad, Wian, and his eight-year-old sister, Neveah. “It was a very big shock but it was also quick. We were sent to the oncologist and bombarded with info, and with the results showing that 87% percent of Cayden’s blood cells were cancerous, there wasn’t much time to play with.”

Cayden starts rigorous chemotherapy

The family started their three-year plan of treatment, which began with seven months of daily chemotherapy. “For the first month, Cayden was admitted and then discharged, but for another two months, we drove to hospital daily. From then on, we had a week in hospital, and three weeks at home in the maintenance phase with tablets at home.”

Despite it, Cayden “is doing very well,” his mother says. “His immune system isn’t 100%, he does pick up flu and other bugs easily, compared to other kids. But we know we are better off than many other families [experiencing illness]. We just take it day-by-day, and try to get through it.”

“Financially, we took strain because during treatment and the hospital stays my husband couldn’t work, and I am self-employed so we lost income. We also had to focus on getting our daughter, Neveah to school every day as she was in Grade 1. She still struggles because all attention goes to one child, and that is often the child who is sick,” says Bianka.

Discovery Life comes to the family’s aid

“Because of our limited ability to carry on with work, we were so relieved that there was the ability to claim from the Automatic Child Severe Illness Benefit on our Discovery Life policy. All we had to do was get a letter from the doctor, send blood test results, and that was it,” says Bianka.

“Discovery was just awesome. The process was quick and amazing. I know a lot of people find reasons not to pay and Discovery went over and above what we expected to happen. It was one of the only parts of this process that was easy going,” she says.  

Discovery Life Limited. Registration number 1966/003901/06, is a registered long-term insurer, and an authorised financial services and registered credit provider, NCR Registration number NCRCP3555. Product rules, terms and conditions apply. This article is meant only as information and should not be taken as financial advice. For tailored financial advice, please contact your financial adviser.