Obtaining
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a difficult and complex process. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Patricia Gutierrez was no exception. Unable to work due to a rare blood disorder and the effects of chemotherapy, she sought expert assistance to obtain the benefits she deserved. She shares her story here.
* This is a true story as told to Allsup.
‘I Did Not Want to Leave My Job’
Albuquerque, New Mexico—There was a time when Patricia Gutierrez wondered if her nightmare would ever end. She’d been born with a rare blood disease that guaranteed her life would be an uphill struggle.
Although armed with a dogged determination to defy the odds, hopelessness set in after succumbing to a succession of other debilitating illnesses. “It was an absolute nightmare,” Mrs. Gutierrez said.
The New York City native, now 56, has been married for 19 years and is the proud mother of three. She also took pride in her accounting career.
“I was very career-oriented,” she explained. “I did accounting my entire life. But I’d have to say it was the people that I enjoyed the most. I never wanted to give up my job; I never wanted to leave.”
Born with von Willebrand’s disease, however, Mrs. Gutierrez faced distinct challenges. A bleeding disorder that interferes with the blood-clotting process, the disease is typically passed down through families. Mrs. Gutierrez landed in the unlikely 1 percent of the population who inherit it.
“It’s like when you see someone who’s really old and they have bruises all over their body from the bleeding under the skin,” Mrs. Gutierrez explained. “Well, that’s me.”
At 13, Mrs. Gutierrez began experiencing agonizing migraines.
“Doctors told me I’d grow out of them,” she said, “but instead, I grew into them. They just got horrendously worse.”
Medication failed to provide relief. “I would sometimes be out of work for three or four days because of the migraines,” she explained. “It was literally a case of make or break. Once, I actually had a migraine that lasted for 15 days. It was the worst nightmare. You just can’t function.” She is thankful for newer medications that offer some relief, but she still endures migraines three to four times a month.
In 1992, a severe back injury forced her out of work for an entire year. It also landed her in the operating room— twice. In 1997, she underwent her first surgery, but the results were short-lived. In 2000, she underwent a more serious operation, which required five months recovery time.
Meanwhile, her migraines were getting worse. In 2001, Mrs. Gutierrez returned to her doctor, still searching for relief. Instead, she received the shock of her life.
“I was talking to the nurse about my migraines,” she said, “and the nurse asked me, ‘What are they doing about your high blood platelet count?’ ”
Mrs. Gutierrez was floored. “As it turned out, I had essential thrombocythemia,” she said. “It’s a condition that dramatically increases the number of blood platelets. At first they thought I had leukemia, but it was a different kind of cancer.
“It’s a condition where your blood wants to clot all the time. The results were right before their eyes the entire time, but no one caught it until then. I could’ve had it for years, but it went undetected.”
Treatment required chemotherapy pills, which produced grueling side-effects.
“My skin is tissue paper thin now,” Mrs. Gutierrez said, “and I think that it’s from the chemotherapy. Anytime I hit anything, it just splits right open. Ever since I started chemotherapy, my health has gone downhill. I mean, you’re putting poison in your body, you know?”
Work became increasingly strenuous. Additional diagnoses of sleep apnea and fibromyalgia also wreaked havoc on her life.
“At work, I was always very sharp,” Mrs. Gutierrez said. “But after all these health problems really started, my memory was suffering. I would go into a meeting and I wouldn’t be able to remember, five minutes into it, what we had discussed.”
Sleep apnea was the most likely culprit, as the condition limits the amounts of oxygen delivered to the brain.
“Meanwhile, the pain kept getting worse,” she continued, “but I just kept pushing myself. I did not want to leave my job.”
By May 2007, she had no other choice. “It just finally got to where I couldn’t do it anymore,” she said. “It was excruciating, sitting at that desk for so long. My fingers were worn out from even the simple act of typing. My arms would shake from the pain I was in. When I realized I had to leave work, I just broke down in tears.”
Mrs. Gutierrez turned to the National Fibromyalgia Association for help, which directed her to Allsup.
Allsup is the nation’s leading Social Security
Disability Insurance (SSDI) representation company. Headquartered in Belleville, Ill., 98 percent of the people Allsup represents, who remain in the process until a final decision is reached, are successful. Allsup has helped more than 120,000 people with disabilities obtain $10.3 billion in SSDI and Medicare benefits.
Because the SSA denies about two-thirds of all initial SSDI applications, Allsup informed Mrs. Gutierrez that her first two attempts would likely be denied. So, when she received two consecutive denials, she remained hopeful.
Her case then advanced to the next level of the process, which involves an appearance before an administrative law judge who decides the outcome. At this stage, Allsup senior representative Michele Kaufman took charge. She advocated for an on-the-record decision, asking the judge to make a favorable decision based on Mrs. Gutierrez’s medical and work records. Her goal was to spare Mrs. Gutierrez the ordeal of appearing in person at an oral hearing.
The judge agreed that Mrs. Gutierrez was disabled and awarded her benefits on the record. The decision was rendered about 15 months after Allsup accepted the claim.
“I expected the process to take a minimum of two years,” Mrs. Gutierrez said. “So when I got the envelope in the mail from the Social Security Administration, I thought, ‘here we go.’ But I opened it, and it said my case had reached a fully favorable decision from the judge. I was flabbergasted!”
She was especially grateful that she did not have to appear at a hearing. “It would’ve killed me, just sitting there and fighting for myself because I’ve worked all these years. Everyone knew I was not well.”
Mrs. Gutierrez is thankful the ordeal is over. She also is enthusiastically spreading the word about Allsup.
“Allsup was absolutely awesome!” she explained. “My calls were always returned on time, I always got answers I needed, and I had no issues whatsoever. I would recommend Allsup to anybody.”