They beat cancer. So why are they now being punished for having the disease?
Rejected by dentists. Denied cheap mortgages and insurance. And treated like pariahs . . .
COPING with breast cancer brought many challenges to mother-of-four Sarah Carson. The endless worry as she endured gruelling treatment left her feeling bleak, while her confidence crumbled when she thought about her future. Imagine, then, how Sarah felt when her treatment for breast cancer concluded in 2011 — only for her to be treated like a modern-day leper.
Despite desperately needing a crown on her tooth, a relatively simple dental procedure, she struggled to find a dentist who would treat her simply because she had previously suffered from cancer. It seems unforgivably harsh. But as others recovering from cancer have discovered, the stigma attached to their disease can spill over into the most unexpected areas of their lives.
And this is despite rapidly increasing survival rates, more effective treatment than ever before and the increasing prevalence of the disease — there are now more than 2.5 million people living with cancer in the UK, and by 2020 almost half the population will receive a diagnosis in their lifetime.
The Mail recently reported that women were barred from receiving even the gentlest of spa treatments simply because they had had cancer. Even a relaxing facial, massage or eyebrow wax has been deemed out of the question, as around 70 per cent of spas are believed to have rules banning staff from serving cancer patients.
Some blame the practice on insurance policies, while others wrongly impose these rules based on unproven fears that treatment such as massages could worsen a patient’s condition.
It’s not just dental work and facials that are apparently proscribed. From trouble getting travel insurance to problems obtaining a mortgage, many people find their cancer has left them second-class citizens.
Sarah, 51, from Uxbridge in West London, had already been through the emotional wringer because of her cancer diagnosis, as she recalls. ‘I was sitting in bed one day and I put my hands across my chest and found a lump. Within four weeks I had surgery to have a large part of my breast removed. I went into complete meltdown.’
Sarah, who was working in retail, had been single for ten years following the breakdown of her marriage, but had just started a relationship with her now husband, Mike, 53, a media manager.
‘Things had been going really well. We were so happy — and then my world fell apart.’
THE cancer treatment, which included chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, was painful and difficult. But an unpredictable source of upset came after her upper front tooth was knocked out during her surgery by an air tube.
Sarah simply could not find a dentist who would treat her as a cancer survivor. She naturally wanted to be honest when she filled out the medical questionnaire handed to her by the dentist’s receptionist.
She says: ‘ I’m not sure why I told them I had had cancer. I think it’s just one of those things that’s ingrained in you to do — to respect medical professionals and to be upfront and honest.
‘I needed a crown, but no one would touch me with a bargepole — even though my treatment had finished.’
It was a cruel blow when her appearance had already been utterly changed by her chemotherapy treatment.
‘I had lost my hair and now I had lost my front tooth. I felt pretty awful. I contacted many dentists and they refused to treat me, worrying my tooth wouldn’t heal.’
Sarah is by no means alone — cancer treatment can often leave patients’ teeth damaged, and online forums are filled with patients complaining of the added difficulty in getting treatment.
DENTISTS’ reluctance appears, in part, to be down to the fact that as chemotherapy kills cancer cells, it also attacks normal ones, which can cause mouth ulcers and sores.
There may, in some cases, be justification for avoiding dental treatment for the first few months after chemo — but Sarah was forced to wait for a year.
Jane Bridgeman, a lead nurse with Tenovus, a charity which provides chemotherapy through mobile support units, says what happened to Sarah does not adhere to guidelines and was clearly not in her best interest.
‘Anyone having chemotherapy, or having had chemotherapy within three months, should not have emergency or invasive dental treatment before contacting the medical team to find out whether it can be carried out safely.
‘This does not preclude treatment being given if necessary — even during chemotherapy.’
As a result of the delay, Sarah’s issue soon became more than cosmetic. Without a dentist’s attention, the root of her tooth started to rot. ‘ Eventually, I couldn’t bite or eat,’ says Sarah.
After a year, she finally found a dentist who made her a ‘butterfly tooth’ which attaches to her other teeth rather than being drilled into her gum.
‘I felt unattractive, and was tortured by not being able to eat. I feel like the legacy of cancer will never leave me.’
Laura Sibley, too, had problems while in remission. At the end of 2011, aged 31, she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer which attacks the immune system. The disease was stage four — the most serious — as it had spread to her bone marrow and organs.
Thankfully, after seven months of chemotherapy, in May 2012 she was given the news that she had beaten the disease.
Desperate for a break, she booked a holiday to a friend’s villa in Spain. Her medical treatment had concluded, and her doctors had given her the all-clear to travel.
But Laura, now 37, from Beckenham, South-East London, was quoted exorbitant rates for travel insurance: instead of the normal £10 for her week’s holiday, she was quoted more than £2,000 — a figure well in excess of the total
cost of her trip. She feels the injustice of the situation acutely.
‘You want to get your life back, you’ve been through such an ordeal, and it’s really hard to do that.’
When she was diagnosed, Laura had just started a job in PR and hadn’t completed her probation period, so had to quit because of the time off she needed for treatment. It was only through friends — who raised £10,000 — that she was able to survive financially until she could work again.
‘Everything was put on hold,’ she says. ‘All I wanted afterwards was to get away on holiday.’
Laura says many insurers wouldn’t even give her a quote.
‘I wasn’t able to get quotes online, so I phoned around. One company said if I got ill while away, they’d attribute anything, even a cold, to my cancer to avoid paying out.
‘I decided I wasn’t putting my life on hold any longer and travelled without insurance. Thankfully, everything was fine.’
It seems Laura’s experience is not an isolated case — so much so that the Financial Conduct Authority has launched an investigation, to be published in March.
A report from 2016 highlighted one potential root cause: the fact that ‘insurers achieve economies of scale if they can funnel large numbers of customers through a standardised underwriting process, especially if it can be automated and delivered online’.
In other words, a complex illness like cancer is too difficult to be assessed — so it’s easier and cheaper not to offer survivors insurance at all, or charge them exorbitant prices.
So many people are affected that Macmillan Cancer Support is calling for insurers to change the way they calculate their quotes.
Head of policy Thomas Cottam says: ‘Even after someone has had cancer treatment, it can be difficult for them to access certain services for years — simply because of the shadow cast by their diagnosis.’
Annie Belasco was 25 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Almost nine years on, she still feels the financial repercussions of her illness. ‘I was about to go on holiday in July 2009 and was having a shower when I felt a golf-ballsized lump in my right breast.’
A mammogram confirmed she had breast cancer, which had spread to her lymph nodes. She was given a 30 per cent chance of survival. Annie reflects: ‘I felt completely in denial. I had no idea it would be so devastating.’ Over the next 18 months, Annie, now 34, who lives in Windsor, Berkshire, underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. It was only in January 2013 — four years after her diagnosis — when she tried to buy a house, that she faced discrimination. Although life insurance is not essential for getting a mortgage, Annie’s broker had advised it would be the best way to find a good deal. But even though she had been clear of cancer since her breast was removed in August 2009, she faced exorbitant life insurance rates. Annie was quoted £250 a month — around half the cost of the mortgage payments on the twobedroom house she wanted to buy — whereas her husband Sam’s policy would be just £11 a month. ‘I found the whole process humiliating,’ says Annie, who has written a book about her experience called Love And Remission.
‘I had been healthy for four years. I didn’t understand why I was being discriminated against. We just wanted to feel secure in our home, knowing we wouldn’t lose the roof over our heads if something terrible happened.’
Insurance companies argue former cancer sufferers may be at more risk of complications and are charged more as premiums are calculated according to risk.
But charities say this approach is unfair and doesn’t factor in the impact of new medicines and increased survival rates.
Faced with such a high premium, Annie felt unable to proceed with her mortgage application as they could not afford the life insurance premiums.
‘After everything I had been through, it felt so unfair, like this was something I shouldn’t have to fight.
‘Cancer made me face up to my mortality, but the battles I had to deal with having survived seemed like they would never end.’