Anybody gone for ill health retirement after a breast cancer diagnosis? Have gone to two days teaching and still finding it hard- just wondered if there were other options I am 56 and two years after diagnosis thanks
Hi Bluemonday,
I’ve just had a look at the Teachers pension website and it says that you can claim retirement pension from the age of 55, although I imagine you won’t get as much as if you’d waited till the normal retirement age, so it sounds as though you’re just in this age bracket.
Like you, I went back very part time to teaching after 6 months off for chemo and radiotherapy and found it absolutely exhausting - it was the constant feeling of ‘busyness’ and the never-ending marking, planning etc. However I was older (63) so the decision to retire was easy. I can’t help thinking that the stresses of teaching might have contributed towards my breast cancer… good luck with your investigations ?
Hi @BlueMonday
did you decided to take your teachers pension and if so did you get it on ill health?
I am facing a similar problem myself, was diagnosed early September 2019 and not gone back yet as on Herceptin till November. Also school can’t guarantee I will be socially distanced so I was thinking about returning after Christmas part time. My memory is what’s troubling me, I can’t remember the simplest things and I still have bouts of fatigue which knock me for six. I did make enquires earlier in my treatment about retirement through Ill health but it wasn’t very clear on the pensions website. I seemed to recall you needed to be terminal or diagnosed with secondary cancer to qualify, but I can’t remember ( it’s the chemo brain !!).
i would be interested to know what you decided or if anyone else has any information on this matter.
Retiring and taking care of your health is the top priority, nothing else can be more important. I can say it from my own experience, after some many years of working without taking much time to spend on myself, and then lots of health problems appearing one after another. At some point, the main my back and neck was almost insupportable, and the only way to get rid of it was to visit Adria Medical Center, where I participated in multiple physiotherapy sessions in order to get my body back to normal, without pain.
Thanks alot!