I’m dying of brain cancer at 39. But my insurance won’t pay out because I had ‘dizziness’ after I applied for the policy

In June last year, Michelle Rendle woke up in the middle of the night to find her husband, John, 39, having a seizure.

It was a shock to both of them: the father of two had never experienced anything like this and was otherwise fit; he enjoyed golf and football.

The attack lasted 15 minutes and John was rushed to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford. He spent a week there and spent the next five months having consultations and MRI scans to determine what was wrong.

It wasn’t until November that John discovered it was cancer. A biopsy confirmed he had a grade two astrocytoma, a type of brain tumor.

“I didn’t have any headaches,” says John, who works in IT solutions for a printer and copier company. ‘The doctors say it could have been there for years. We had no idea.’

A craniotomy in December to remove more than half of the tumor revealed that the tumor had progressed to grade three, meaning it was growing rapidly. ‘You don’t expect that your husband will suddenly develop brain cancer at such a young age. That’s hard to accept,” says Michelle, 37.

John has started working from home. There is no time frame attached to his condition, but he has been told it shortens his life.

The couple, who celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary last month, had been smart enough to take out critical illness and life insurance each, as well as joint life insurance when they first got a mortgage 11 years ago. These would protect the remaining partner and the couple’s children, Oliver, five, and Emilia, three, would become seriously ill or die.

Payout rates for serious illness claims are generally high: according to the latest available data from the Association of British Insurers, providers will pay for 91.6 percent of new claims in 2022, at an average of £66,296.

John expected to receive a lump sum of £25,000 from his critical illness cover with Zurich. He hoped to create memories with his wife and children while he was still healthy enough. He sent his claim to Zurich in November after his diagnosis.

But Zurich’s response to the claim four months later left him in shock. It informed him that both his life insurance policy and his joint life insurance policy with Michelle would be canceled and the premiums refunded.

That would mean John would receive no critical illness benefits and the couple’s £150,000 mortgage would not be paid off by the joint policy if he were to die.

The insurer said this was because there were differences in the information John provided when applying for insurance and the information his GP provided about his health. It said it would have denied any coverage if it had been aware of all the information before the policies were issued.

The couple had had policies for more than a decade and had previously been with the insurer Royal London. When their Royal London policy came up for renewal in January last year, they decided to switch to Zurich to get cheaper premiums and a higher sum assured on the life insurance policy.

But in February, John became dizzy. Since he didn’t think anything of it, he didn’t go to the doctor. When Zurich wrote to John to confirm the policy and ask him to report any changes, he didn’t think to mention this.

John became dizzy for the second time at work on May 5, four days after the policy took effect. This time he did go to the doctor – he mentioned this dizziness as well as the one from February. The doctor wrote in his notes that he had experienced dizziness ‘occasionally’. John claims he only told the doctor about the two episodes. Blood tests were done, but it turned out to be normal.

Zurich denied the claim on the grounds that John had not disclosed the “occasional” dizzy episodes.

His GP has since written to Zurich to clarify that John was only having ‘strange attacks of dizziness’ – but he did not specify how much ‘strange’ that meant. The doctor also said that he had no symptoms indicating a brain tumor at the time. King’s College Hospital, where John was referred after the attack, also wrote to the insurance company to say that dizziness was non-specific and did not indicate a brain tumor. But Zurich has not reinstated John’s policy – ​​or his and Michelle’s joint policy.

John is being treated for his brain tumor. He underwent six weeks of radiotherapy at Maidstone Hospital and last month had his first five-day course of chemotherapy, which he will have to repeat every month for a year.

John and Michelle, who celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary last month, are one of the few young couples with a critical illness and life insurance policy.

John also underwent a third surgery on Christmas Day after brain fluid began leaking from his stitches following the craniotomy.

He says, “It’s tough. I have two young children and I am very emotional. The insurance issue just added weight. I feel like the world is on my shoulders.”

Michelle, a stay-at-home mom with two children to raise and a hefty mortgage to pay, says, “We don’t know how long he’ll be okay.”

John adds, “We want to create memories with the kids while I’m here, in case it gets to the point where I can’t work anymore.”

Damien Clarkson, his childhood best friend, has raised money for the Rendle family via GoFundMe. Approximately £24,287 has been donated so far.

A spokesperson for Zurich said: ‘We are truly sorry to hear of the very difficult circumstances in which Mr Rendle and his family find themselves. From the information provided, we know that Mr Rendle had persistent, intermittent symptoms of the neurological type from at least February 2023, and had had multiple episodes.

‘While these incidents occurred after the application was submitted, this should have been reported to us before the application went live. In various documents we make it clear to customers about their obligations to report changes in health to us.

‘If we had known about the complaints, which were subsequently investigated by his GP, we would have postponed cover so that we could conduct research and see how the complaints developed.

‘As a result of Mr Rendle’s failure to inform us of these conditions before cover commenced, his claim has unfortunately been rejected and Zurich has refunded the premiums paid over the course of the policy.’

Dean Dunham, The Mail’s consumer lawyer, said: ‘I always tell consumers that if an insurer can get out of a claim, it usually will, especially if it’s health insurance.

“I strongly advise consumers to exercise excessive caution and disclose everything, including symptoms experienced and any medical appointments attended, before switching or purchasing new health insurance.”