Preparing for the worst

Be prepared: Getting sick is part of life.

Towards the end of 2007, Gillian Franklin, founder of The Heat Group , finished a monthly company meeting with an unusual presentation.

She told her staff she had been diagnosed with cancer and gave a presentation detailing positive things about it (see story “Cancer: Looking on the bright side”).

“There was a bit of laughter, there was obviously a lot of anxiety . . . as I looked over the room I could see the majority of people were crying and I just said: ‘Look, we are going to do this in a very positive way and this is what I need from you’.”

From the outset, Franklin, who is managing director of the privately owned cosmetics distributor and also owns almost half of it, decided to “never ever affirm that I was not going to get through it”, she says.

“I had 100 employees . . . I was responsible for their jobs. I wanted to make sure they felt the same level of confidence I did because I didn’t want to destabilise the morale of the company and I also didn’t want them to lose focus on their jobs by worrying about me.”

As much as people may feel invincible, getting sick is part of life. At those times, responsibilities, both personal and professional, become harder to deliver against. Those who have got through tough times say planning, flexibility and communication were instrumental in helping them manage their illness and their work.

Mohamed Khadra , now a professor of surgery at the University of Sydney, had just been appointed a senior lecturer in surgery at Sydney’s Prince Alfred Hospital and his second son was about a year old. He had a huge mortgage. He was then diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

“It took about three to four months of treatment really before I could come back to any semblance of work and I found, not only that took time but . . . healing, to the ability where I could go back and be a good doctor to my patients, took a lot longer,” he says.

“We were completely unprepared.”

As a surgeon, Khadra is familiar with delivering bad news to patients. He has often seen the suffering that ensues. That’s particularly the case if the individual doesn’t have plans in place for their business affairs.

“What makes it go from a sad conversation . . . but with at least a discussion about what can be done and the options for treatment, to a tragic conversation is when the patient is saying, ‘Oh gee, does this mean I’ll have to be off work for a while, doctor . . . I run my own business, I don’t know how that’s going to pan out’ and all of a sudden you see the incredible double-edged pain that hits their faces,” he says.

Faced with an illness, the people who get through it best are the ones who haven’t over-extended themselves financially, Khadra says. “Never bet your house. You can sell all the investment properties to sustain yourself so long as your house is safe,” he says. “I’ve learned that from bitter experience.”

Insurance that pays a lump sum when a person who gets a major diagnosis, such as cancer, is advisable, he says. “That allows you the time to be able to heal but also allows you some money to live on and to pay the school fees,” he says.

Since she first started the business, Franklin’s company has paid for all its employees to have life insurance and loss of income insurance as part of their package and at no cost to them. Although she did not need to use it, two employees have had to draw on it.

As part of being prepared, Khadra suggests regular health checks to stave off problems early.

If you do find yourself sick, flexibility in your working practices and, as an employee, from your employer can make a big difference.

When undergoing treatment for her breast cancer, Franklin built more flexibility into her diary. She organised radiotherapy sessions in the mornings so she could be at work by 9.15 – later than normal but not a big deal from a work perspective.

She also made sure her diary didn’t have appointments after 4pm when she’d had radiotherapy that morning. As it turned out, Franklin’s energy levels were sustained and mostly she was still in the office after six . She used those extra hours for work and there was little disruption to the business.

Sarah Higgins , an IT trainer for aged care supplier Regis Group , found a flexible approach from her employer was crucial to remaining at work after she was diagnosed with pernicious anaemia. She had travelled a lot with her work, spending at least one week each month interstate. But her illness meant she would need regular injections, which grounded her from flying until she stabilised and worked out a routine. Until she stabilised, she would also be exhausted.

“Some days I couldn’t even make it here into head office, much less interstate,” she says.

The fact she was less mobile accelerated the company’s plans to deliver training online, rather than in person.

That meant essentially Higgins could do her job from anywhere, so long as she had a telephone and internet connection.

Crucially the new arrangement cut down her travel hours.

Communication of her progress in her illness was crucial for Franklin.

However she had to make sure that keeping colleagues updated did not add to her fatigue.

“This can become very time-consuming and, when you are undergoing treatment and trying to work full time, the one thing you don’t have is spare time,” she says.

Franklin set up regular communications by email – which she called her “c-journey update”. She also nominated a good friend as a contact that other friends could call to talk to in more detail about how Franklin was doing.

“This was very helpful and saved me time but kept everyone included,” she says.

BRW

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