“I was very comfortable with taking the two months off. This lump sum took care of everything for us so that we didn't have to pull money out of savings.” Shaun Thelander
An annual checkup became a life-changing diagnosis for Denise Thelander when her doctor felt a lump on her thyroid that Denise was unaware of. After a biopsy yielded unclear results, surgery provided a definite answer—it was cancer, and it had spread.
“I had a pretty positive prognosis,” Denise said. “It had spread outside my thyroid and into my lymph nodes, but my doctor removed the thyroid and about 20 lymph nodes.”
Denise, with help from her husband Shaun, traveled over an hour to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to see an endocrinologist, resulting in several nights away from home. After her surgery, Denise began a radioactive iodine treatment, during which she had to be quarantined away from her family for a week.
When she returned home after the iodine treatment, Denise’s medication left her fatigued, making it difficult to take care of their three children. Denise’s full treatment lasted around two months, during which Shaun took time off of work to stay home and take care of the household. Denise’s thyroid was not regulated until nearly six months later.
After Denise completed treatment and was on the road to recovery, the Thelanders’ thoughts turned to finances. Their major medical insurance covered the cost of Denise’s cancer surgery, while their supplemental insurance policy, which they purchased through Platinum, took care of the family’s extra out-of-pocket costs.
“I was very comfortable with taking the two months off,” Shaun said. “This supplemental policy took care of costs for us so that we didn’t have to pull money out of savings.”
A Well-Rounded Approach to Family Healthcare
As a Platinum sales representative, Shaun routinely hears stories from customers who have discovered the advantages of having a Platinum-marketed policy. When it came time to make decisions about his own family’s healthcare, he and Denise reasoned that with three young children and a chaotic day-to-day “kid life,” they, too, could get good use out of the supplemental policies.
“You have to figure there’s going to be some stitches here and there,” Shaun said. “We knew we’d get a lot out of it.”
Shaun’s assumption was correct. Since taking out their policy, the family has made multiple visits to the emergency room after various kid-centric accidents.
Peace of Mind From Start to Finish
Platinum’s top-rate customer service also gave the Thelanders peace of mind. Each time they filed a claim, the Thelanders were assigned one dedicated customer service representative to help them, taking the stress out of a typically confusing process.
“Sometimes we’d get kind of busy with other things or dealing with whatever was going on at the time, and Platinum would call to see how the process was going,” Denise said. “That was definitely unexpected. You don’t expect most companies to call you when they need to give you money.”
Shaun added, “You’re not thinking about the money right when this stuff is going on. But, as you’re getting near the finish line, that’s something that you start thinking about. It’s stress that’s unnecessary, and this policy takes that out of it. You can focus on getting better, and you don’t have to think about the financial aspect of things.”
