The decision to buy a house is a major one and may come at a time in your life when you feel ready to put down some roots or make an investment for your future. The process is arduous and lengthy from making that initial decision to getting the keys. But for a person with CF, this process is further complicated by the consideration of a life long and unpredictable condition which may make the financial institutions unsure about approving an application from a PwCF. However, this is not always the case. Aine Stafford tells her story of her journey to securing a mortgage protection policy, the foundations of being able to search for her forever home.
I always remember when I was a young child drawing pictures of the house I would love to own and live in when I got older. I never thought of the long and difficult battle I would face when trying to buy a house of my own. I always thought I would work hard, go to college become a teacher (as that is what I always wanted to be from a young age), save up and buy my own house. If only it were that straight forward.
I was born in South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel. However, my stay here was very short-lived as within an hour of being born I was transferred first to Waterford hospital and then straight onto Crumlin Hospital in Dublin, where I spent the first 3 months of my life. I had two life-saving surgeries in my first few weeks of life. One at only 6 days old and the second at 5 weeks. A week after my second surgery, at just six weeks old, it was confirmed for my parents that my life would always be a little different than my older sister’s when I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.
Growing up, I never dwelled on this difference and liked to think of myself as like ‘everyone else’. Although I had a life-long illness I tried my best not to let it get in the way of what I wanted to achieve in life. I always seemed to have a lot of plates spinning. From hospital appointments to hospital admissions, maintaining a healthy balance between my studies and a social life was made all the more difficult when I was constantly chasing my tail trying to catch up on schoolwork from classes I had missed, or just trying to keep on top of my daily medications and routines.
Although it was difficult, I was determined not to let anything hold me back from achieving my dream. I worked hard and was successful in obtaining enough points to be accepted into Mary Immaculate College to complete my Bachelor of Education degree. Receiving my acceptance letter was a dream come true, and it further solidified my determination and self-belief. My four years in MIC definitely weren’t a walk in the park, but I had very supportive friends, family, lecturers, and of course my Cystic Fibrosis team in Limerick Regional Hospital, who were always incredibly accommodating and ensured my appointments weren’t scheduled when I had lectures.
Upon graduation of the B.Ed., the next challenge that I faced was figuring out how to manage my Cystic Fibrosis as a teacher. At times it has been a struggle and I have spent many nights in hospital correcting stacks of copies and preparing for lessons to in order to try and keep on top of everything. I was fortunate enough to secure a permanent job in Scoil Mhuire Newcastle just a year after graduation. Obtaining this job was such a significant milestone. I was also following in my mother’s footsteps to the extent of teaching in the school that she herself had taught in for 37 years.
2020 was a huge milestone year for my teaching career. I became a permanent member of the staff in Scoil Mhuire Newcastle and obtained an Assistant Principal 2 post in the school.
My partner and I also began renting and living together in 2020 which was another personal milestone. This brought independence not only as an adult but as a person with Cystic Fibrosis. I was now completely responsible for my own medical needs, something my parents would have always helped me with before.
In 2021 my partner and I began to discuss and investigate the process of buying a house. We never imagined how grueling a process it would be. I was very naïve when we began the process and never thought about how difficult it might be for a person with Cystic Fibrosis to buy a house.
We met with a lady in our local bank to chat about how to begin the process and I left the meeting feeling quite deflated. It was the first time I realized that in order to buy a house you obviously have to have [mortgage protection] life insurance and it was quite clear how difficult that would be for me. I went home feeling so upset but I am not one to give up easily, so I began to research it extensively. I contacted Cystic Fibrosis Ireland who were so kind and helpful on the phone. I spoke to other people who found getting life insurance difficult and did a lot of my own research.
The best thing I decided to do was to approach a mortgage advisor. My partner and I met with our mortgage advisor and the process began then. I was not about to let my dream of owning a house slip away, I was willing to do anything I needed to do in order to secure life insurance.
My mortgage advisor and I began to apply for life insurance in February 2022. We applied to five different insurance companies. I filled out all the paperwork and I hoped and prayed that one of these applications would be successful. A few weeks later my mortgage advisor rang me to say three companies had rejected my application. I was absolutely devastated my mind instantly thought what happens if the other two reject my application also. I knew that if I couldn’t secure life insurance, I had two options. Option one would be that my partner and I would buy a house based solely on his salary and the mortgage would be in his name. The second option would have been to ask the bank we were borrowing from to sign a wavier, to say if I passed away our mortgage wouldn’t be paid off.
As I said I never liked to think of myself as different to everyone else, but this harsh reality I was facing made me think about how I was. It made me consider things I had never thought about before. That although I had worked so hard in college to become a teacher and secure a permanent job and even secure an assistant principal position, it didn’t matter in the eyes of a bank when it came to buying a house. I had Cystic Fibrosis therefore I mightn’t get life insurance. This brought up a lot of different emotions for me guilt, sadness, frustration and anger.
My mortgage advisor contacted me to say that the other two insurance companies wanted more information. I knew these two companies were my last chance. I contacted my Cystic Fibrosis team in Limerick and they wrote me a letter to say I was in good health at the moment and gave recent figures of my latest x-rays and lung function tests etc. I had also to contact my GP as the insurance companies wanted details of my history and files from my GP.
My GP told me they would show me all of my notes, history and files, that they would then send to the insurance companies. I went to collect this envelope and I was shocked as the size of this parcel.
There were between 200-300 pages of notes dating from 1995 the year I was born all the way to 2021. I spent hours reading through each of these files. I handed them back to the GP’s and they sent them to the insurance companies. At this stage I wasn’t very hopeful as I thought no insurance company is going to insure me when they see the sheer volume of my file.
On the 28th of March 2022 I received an email from my mortgage advisor to say that the insurance company had issued acceptance terms. The relief and joy I felt in that moment was indescribable. I couldn’t believe I had secured life insurance, I was completely overwhelmed. The process was extremely difficult, but I was so grateful to my amazing supportive partner who reassured me throughout it all that no matter what happened it would be okay and we would work it out. My parents and my older sister who have always been in my corner from day one, helping me through any and every challenge I face and giving me the courage to keep going, and of course the brilliant team at FOH Financial Advisors in Clonmel, Biddy Purcell and Noreen O’ Loughlin whom I would never have secured life insurance without them working tirelessly to help my partner and I.
We are now trying to find our forever home, however hard it is or it gets I always remind myself how lucky I am to be in the position where I can look for a life- long home as it wasn’t always a guarantee, for a while I thought it might not be possible at all.
I am really hopeful for what the future will hold for my partner and I, and I know it will be one of the greatest feelings when we finally get the keys to our own house.