Dore’s Story
Disability Income Insurance is not for “old” people. The coverage benefits anyone who works and uses their income. That means young people need the coverage too.
At the young age of 27, life was falling into place for Dore Bakouris. She was newly married, had a 1-year-old son and had just returned to her job after a time staying at home with the baby.
Then she started suffering from severe headaches. Given that she had no previous health issues, she went to the emergency room and got a CT scan. Doctors gave her the devastating news that she had a brain tumor.
A week later, Dore had surgery to remove what was thought to be an egg-sized tumor, but it turned out to be a cavernous
angioma- a malformation of blood vessels that had started to bleed, putting pressure on her brain. Doctors said if they had waited another day, they would have lost her. Dore did survive the surgery, but she lost her right peripheral vision and had cognitive impairments. It was discovered later she had also suffered a stroke.
Thankfully, Dore had done insurance planning at a young age, given her husband, Steven, was their insurance professional. Dore had disability insurance, which replaced a portion of her income. That meant there was not the financial strain of going from a two-income household to one for a young family.
The insurance benefits gave Dore the support she needed, since she could no longer drive and had an active toddler. “This insurance has been a miracle for us,” she says. “It’s helped us in ways I didn’t think were possible.”
Steven adds that people expect something like this to happen when you’re old or to “other” people. “I want to express how important it is to have this kind of planning in place,” he says. “Your ability to generate income is your largest asset, if you can’t work, where does that leave everything else?
