Amanda Jollimore slipped into a dark place towards the end of last year.
Neurologists said her two-year-old daughter, Mia, would never walk or talk. After multiple trips to the hospital and multiple tests, she learned the baby girl needed palliative care.
Jollimore’s depression deepened, her anxiety intensified. The Ottawa woman had been out of work since May 2021 as she focused on her daughter and her own deteriorating mental health.
At the end of January, the next blow followed.
Sun Life, which approved Jollymore for long-term disability in August 2021, withdrew her cover.
“It just made it worse,” Jollimore said through tears in a recent interview. “I feel like my body is five times heavier because I’m so depressed, but I have to keep going for my kids.”
Jollymore has now taken the insurance company to court. She filed a lawsuit in May, claiming she is entitled to long-term disability because of her depression and generalized anxiety disorder — diagnoses supported by her doctors — that prevent her from working.
The insurance company, for its part, denies that Jollimore is entitled to long-term disability.
In its defense filed last month, Sun Life said Jollimore was initially eligible for long-term disability in August 2021 when they approved her claim. The information sent by Jollymore at the time met the definition of “total impairment” as required by the policy, the statement of defense said.
But after reviewing the medical reports on file and other information, Sun Life said Jollymore “no longer continues to meet the definition of ‘total disability’ or ‘total disability’ within the meaning of the policy” and terminated benefits in January. 31, 2022, the defense statement said.
“We sympathize with Ms Jollimore and her difficult situation,” Sun Life spokesman Gannon Loftus said. “Our teams are reviewing the matter and working with Ms Jollimore and her legal counsel to find a solution.”
The defense statement did not specify what led to Jollimore no longer meeting the definition of total disability, and Sun Life did not respond to detailed questions about her case, citing confidentiality.
Jollimore and her attorney, Albert Klein, said they don’t know what caused her long-term disability coverage to be revoked.
“Amanda had been paying these premiums for years thinking she had a safety net, some peace of mind, then Sun Life arbitrarily decided on a whim that they weren’t going to cover her,” Klein said.
Jollimore’s daughter was born on March 4, 2020. Doctors noticed physical symptoms that suggested birth defects and referred her to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, thus beginning her health odyssey.
The doctors examined every part of Mia’s little body. They looked at her brain, tested her blood and genetics, and took bone biopsies. Some thought it might be dwarfism, others thought it was a bone marrow problem.
“It was a grueling first few months,” Jollimore said.
At nine months, Mia had infantile spasms and was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy. She got urinary tract infections, other times she got colds and her oxygen levels plummeted.
Mia was admitted to hospital 13 times in her first 18 months, Jollimore’s claim said. Doctors diagnosed the little girl with a hole in her heart, severe farsightedness, a low white blood cell count, global developmental delay, brain damage that affected her vision, frequent bouts of pneumonia and lung disease, among other problems. She feeds through a tube into her stomach and burps through a syringe.
“She has the developmental level of a two-month-old baby,” Jollimore said.
Doctors also said Mia has an undiagnosed genetic syndrome.
“Every time they take her in, it’s realistic that she might not come home,” Jollimore said as she cried.
“Obviously it made my mental health very, very bad.”
Jollimore returned to her job as a workforce analyst in March 2021 after her maternity leave ended. She worked remotely from her daughter’s bedside every day. She and her husband also have a 12-year-old son who needed love and attention.
“I couldn’t concentrate because I was constantly crying, late for meetings or conversations,” Jollimore said. “I made mistakes.”
She said she was exhausted but unable to sleep, living with a constant stream of headaches and having angry outbursts.
Her doctor said she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to work, so she told her boss and the company approved her short-term disability leave. A few months later, Sun Life approved her claim for long-term disability.
“That was amazing,” Jollimore said. “I can focus on my mental health.”
She diligently followed Sun Life’s monthly requirements by providing updates and medical records, she said. She sought counseling, tried various medical treatments, and spoke with a support group for families with children with special needs.
But healing proved difficult.
In January, a caseworker told her the review found nothing to support her claim that she was unable to work. Her appeal to Sun Life was rejected.
“The decision actually made my mental health a lot worse,” Jollimore said.
Her husband works long hours in the restaurant business to try to support the family while she takes care of Mia. They also took out a line of credit to pay the bills.
Jollimore said she tries to focus on the positives when she can.
They celebrate Mia’s “inchstones” — their version of milestones — like a recent one when she can hold her head up for three seconds.
Mia’s bright green eyes light up when she hears her father’s voice and she “absolutely adores her brother.”
“We call her our warrior,” Jollimore said.
However, the overwhelming sadness felt every day is hard to overcome.
“I spend my days cuddling her and taking it all in because I don’t know how much time we have,” Jollimore said. “I’m not well.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 7, 2022.
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