Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a difficult and complex process. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Kathleen Truszkowski was no exception. Unable to work after breaking bones and being diagnosed with osteoporosis, she applied for SSDI and was denied twice. She shares her story here.
* This is a true story as told to Allsup.
She wanted to keep on helping young adults overcome their disabilities. But when her own disability sidelined her, she turned to Allsup for help with…
‘The Rest of My Life’
Ada, Michigan—In hindsight, she probably should have known it was more than just an unlucky fall. How else could she explain how easily her bones broke?
It began on Christmas Eve 2001. Kathleen Truszkowski, now 61, took a tumble in her driveway. The fall broke her tibia and all the ribs on her left side. She would miss months of work for the Grand Rapids, Mich., Board of Education, but she was determined to get back on the job.
She’d been an employment training specialist for disabled young adults some 21 years and wasn’t about to give it up. But the injuries kept piling up.
In February 2006, she underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in her left shoulder. She felt good enough afterward so that when her husband, Paul, said, “Let’s take a vacation in Mexico,” she responded with a resounding “Si.” It would be a nice fling before she resumed her career.
They planned the trip with friends and soon were jetting toward the Mexican Riviera south of Cancun. While in flight, she decided to change seats. But as she slid over, something in her left leg went “pop.” Two hours later, a similar thing happened to her right leg.
Thinking she had pulled some muscles, she shrugged off the discomfort. Besides, the painkillers she was taking for her surgically repaired shoulder, coupled with ice packs on the legs, made the leg pains bearable. In Mexico, she relaxed on the beach every day. “I had no idea,” she said, “that I had broken both fibular heads.”
Back home, she discovered the broken bones and learned she had osteoporosis, a common condition in women after menopause, and in her case, extremely damaging. Medication she had taken more than 10 years earlier may have contributed to the disease. Both of her legs were fitted with braces until they healed. She also endured several months of therapy.
“I looked like ‘Forrest Gump,’” she said. “But I wasn’t able to perform work I did with my kids.” The Board of Education wouldn’t allow it.
“You cannot come back with restrictions from the doctor,” she explained. At 59, she was forced to leave work and seek disability.
“My long-term disability insurance company helped me apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI),” she said. What the company did was point her to Allsup, the nation’s leading SSDI representation company. Since 1984, Belleville, Ill.,-based Allsup has helped more than 120,000 deserving clients receive nearly $10.3 billion in SSDI and Medicare benefits.
Allsup employs some 600 team members—many of them with decades of experience in dealing with the Social Security Administration. About 98 percent of the cases they take on result in SSDI benefit awards for those who remain in the appeals process until a final decision is reached. Allsup takes pride in providing clients with expert guidance and representation. With these values in mind, Allsup took Mrs. Truszkowski’s case Aug. 25, 2008.
She was happy to use Allsup’s help, but she wasn’t convinced applying for SSDI was right for her. “I’ve worked since I was 12,” she said. “You can’t really see my disability, and I felt funny going through with it.” She went ahead, however, and as with the majority of initial disability applications, hers was denied. Growing expenses made her glad to have Allsup on her side.
Her husband also had retired, and they paid for weddings for two of their three children in the same year. Between the weddings, she broke a foot. She worried about making ends meet financially, but Allsup representatives reassured her that things would turn out just fine.
“Allsup treated me very well,” Mrs. Truszkowski said. “I never felt funny if I had any question to ask or if I didn’t understand something. They set me at ease if I was worried.”
Ultimately, Mrs. Truszkowski was scheduled for a hearing before an administrative law judge. One week before the hearing, a senior Allsup representative called and went over in detail with her what to expect and what to say at the hearing. “She asked if I had any questions and told me, ‘Just tell the truth,’ ” Mrs. Truszkowski said. “Allsup prepared me well.”
On the day of the hearing, the Allsup representative accompanied her to a hearing in nearby Grand Rapids. The judge found in her favor and Mrs. Truszkowski was approved for SSDI benefits on March 19, 2009. She was elated.
“I miss my job and my kids I worked with,” she said. “But when you get to the point where you can’t work, it’s good to have [SSDI] as a backup. I was able to get my Social Security benefits and I will have it for the rest of my life. What a relief.”
The couple celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary on July 8 and welcomed their third grandchild into the world the same day. With this behind her, she’s back to growing tomatoes, squash, raspberries and cucumbers in her country garden. She’ll do some canning and, “This year I am going to make bread-and-butter pickles,” she said.
Emma, her 8-year-old labrador, often keeps her company in the garden. She also has some chickens and wouldn’t mind another dog, but Paul cautions that any more pets could hinder them from traveling.
“He wants to go back to Mexico,” she said. “I haven’t been anywhere since all of this began.” It will be nice to travel without any broken bones this time.