Also, I have to point out that BA have been very good in the past at looking after people with genuine long term sickness, to the point of keeping jobs open if it looks like the employee will be able to return in the future. They also have been known to continue to pay full salries after the 6 month cutoff if the employee can sit in an office and do some photocopying or whatever.
There arenīt many companies that would bother nowadays.