It won't happen to me

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Last week Eversheds Sutherland, where I used to work, included this to their
lawyers internationally.

This is bittersweet. Although this represents a lot of my effort, perseverance
and I am really pleased it's been published. A part of me is unbelievably sad
- it didn't and doesn't feel real- denial is my friend!!!

It won’t happen to me….
Claire Withnall, trained and qualified into Real Estate with Eversheds LLP 2006-2008, and then left to have a family.  What happened next was not on her agenda......
Life happens. Plans change. It is a sad fact of life most people will face some sort of misfortune,
mine was literally overnight. I had a burst AVM in my cerebellum (basically a brain haemorrhage
- if you want to know exactly what an AVM is type it into any search engine). It was funny I went
to bed completely  normal and woke up spending three months, including my 30th birthday, in
various hospitals!
Pre - Brain Hemorrhage Post - Brain Hemorrhage

I suppose most people would consider all the years of study a waste because I can't
practise any more but I don't... I'm actually incredibly grateful.  I was taught lots of the
skills that l now use, like dictation, being creative and having good legal knowledge

I also persevere with things, which has been very important. I have had to re learn to walk with
a Zimmer frame, re learn to write and practise my speech as I sound funny. These have all
taken endless patience (and I am not there yet with any of them), so I am very glad I don't
just give up. I am also unbelievably pleased that I had good insurance - being disabled is
crazy expensive.
 If you take anything from my story let it be that you need to check whether your personal insurance is adequate.
I had critical illness cover for me from my house which luckily paid out - I will be eternally grateful
to my husband for submitting an early claim (I wouldn't have thought of it until much later as I
was so ill. That's why it's so important for your loved ones to know what you have and what to do).
Having the insurance pay-out has made a massive difference to me and my family after living with
my in-laws for 2.4 years (I had two small children to look after) we were able to buy a new house
and more importantly do everything to it that I need without it looking clinical.
Please, please, please check your insurance - you never know when you'll going to need it - I
certainly didn't think I would!


I won't lie it has been incredibly hard and frightening with six very dangerous operations, a
medically induced coma, an angiogram (a surgical procedure where you are awake and they
use a camera to look inside your brain), three months of weekly blood tests, nightly injections,
an arterial blood test (which hurts), a CT scan, MRI scan and an ultrasound.It wasn't a great
experience but it is all in the past now but every cloud - I lost three stone!

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