This is part of a series of articles from Insurance Journal’s annual Insuring Cannabis Summit on Oct. 14. You can find more articles from the summit at the bottom of this one.
Sabrina Alkire is a broker who it can easily be said has more interest in the insuring cannabis space than most.
Alkire got into the insuring cannabis business while battling brain cancer in 2018.
So when Alkire, who comes from an insurance background, saw her state of Oklahoma legalize cannabis for medicinal use the same year that she was dealing with cancer, she saw the clear signs in the wall.
Alkire, who is now the director of the cannabis division at Frates Irwin Risk Management in Oklahoma City, shared her inspirational story in a bonus video during Insurance Journal’s annual Insuring Cannabis Summit on Oct. 14.
She was diagnosed with pituitary cancer when most people have just gotten out of high school and are trying to figure out what to do with their lives.
“I was 20 when I got in a car accident, I fell asleep at the wheel,” she said. “They went in and they brought me in to do brain scans and such to figure out why I had passed out. That’s when they discovered the pituitary tumor.”
The cancer started to attack her endocrine system, her thyroid, her reproductive system, and more. Following her diagnosis, she had her thyroid removed, and ultimately had a hysterectomy.
The cancer and the treatments began to take a toll in the ensuing years.
“In 2018 was when I started feeling different,” Alkire said. “I started getting really bad fatigue. I was gaining weight at a rapid rate.”
Blood work revealed that chemicals in her body were making her gain the weight, and feel fatigue. At the time, she was a single mom of two.
“My world just fell apart at one all at the same time as soon as it went active,” she said. “I was lucky if I made it to 7 p.m. at night, being able to stay awake. It was just taking a toll. During that time, I planned my estate, I planned my funeral, I planned where my kids were going, all sorts of things at an age that shouldn’t have to deal with that.”
She ended up being treated with three rounds of chemotherapy in four-hour increments, with treatments six weeks apart. The side-effects were considerable, including nausea, and she was on over a dozen medications.
“It was 24/7, nothing would curb it,” she said. “I wasn’t eating. And so CBD was basically my first introduction and that helped with inflammation. It helped with migraines. It helped with my appetite, everything. I originally did tinctures, which is basically oil that you put on your tongue. That was helping.”
She also began decreasing her pill intake.
“My pharmaceuticals went from 13-14 down to probably lower than seven by the end of this,” she said.
She began missing less and less work, and this enabled her to return to the business she grew up in, and she began to grow in the business.
“I recently switched to Frates Irwin, which is an Acrisure agency,” she said.
Before the switch, it was just she and an account manager, and they were “maxed out of bandwidth.”
They made the switch three months ago, and she has expanded her business across numerous states.
“That’s my focus once again…I want to educate everybody so much,” she said.
She added: “And so it’s been a new opportunity and my focus from now on is purely just growth and education, not only for myself and clients, but also for other agents. That’s why I was so lucky to have this opportunity, was because I want agents to feel the love that I do for the cannabis industry and realize how important it truly is and what a good industry it is to be in.”
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