My plan was to start my business and apply for life insurance before I turned 40 in 2010 to avoid the age related premium hike. I knew I was in trouble when I was diagnosed with NH-Lymphoma at age 36 and that obtaining life insurance coverage was unlikely for me for some time. Still, as the eternal optimist, I thought I would at least apply to see if I could pay a crazy premium and still be insured. But to the benefit of all Northwestern policy holders, they did not take on my risky status.

I opened my mail today to find a notice that I am uninsurable for life insurance. I wish I could say I was surprised, but in fact I was not. I knew that even if the insurance company would allow me to pay obscene premiums for a policy based on my battle with NH-Lymphoma that they surely would deny me once they learned the recent news of my mother’s late stage lung cancer diagnosis due to family history. The silver lining is that their letter encouraged me to reapply in four years. There is still hope.