Vickie and her husband, Bob, started traveling overseas in 1985, taking at least one big trip each year. In 2016, that trip was supposed to be a 19-day cruise around the French Polynesian islands.

Once the boat reached the first port, however, Vickie was hit with a series of unlucky breaks.

“Right when we got off the boat, there was lots of loud music,” she says. “I was walking and looking around, and I tripped and fell on the upper part of my arm.”

Vickie immediately returned to the cruise for X-rays. The shipboard doctors told her she had broken her humerus and needed surgery.

“That took care of my whole trip,” she says.

Vickie and Bob missed 17 of the 19 days they were scheduled to be on the cruise.

They always purchase insurance for their big trips, and had a policy with Tin Leg Travel Insurance for this cruise. An onboard concierge contacted Tin Leg on Vickie’s behalf to inform them of her situation.

For further evaluation, Vickie was taken to a “doc-in-the-box”. The clinic had a nurse, but it did not perform surgeries, so she needed to be airlifted to a hospital on a nearby island.

“At that point, we were figuring out what we could do to help her after she had the surgery,” said Tin Leg Claims Director Brandi Morse. “We started working on getting her transportation from the hospital directly to an airport to fly home.”

After five days in the hospital to recover, Vickie was cleared to travel home. Due to yet another complication, she was still unable to leave. Airline strikes shut down all flights to and from the island. Vickie and Bob had to wait them out.

“Brandi made arrangements for us to stay at a resort for two days until the strike ended,” Vickie said. “She even worked with our travel agent and airline to get us a flight back. I was very pleased with her help.”

Vickie and Bob were reimbursed more than $14,000 for the medical evacuation, the medical expenses and hospitalization, as well as the unused portions of their trip.