After years of living with depression and anxiety, Susan Brown was eventually diagnosed with
fibromyalgia—the straw that broke the camel’s back. Securing
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) helps people cope when they cannot work, but it is an arduous process. The Social Security Administration initially denies two out of every three applicants. Ms. Brown was no exception. She shares her story here.
*This is a true story as told to Allsup.
Fighting a debilitating trio of ailments, this mother and retail associate quickly found that…
‘It’s Not Cheap to be Sick’
Charlestown, Rhode Island—Susan Brown remembers her first panic attack as if it were yesterday. Standing in line at the Charlestown post office in 1989, the attack hit without warning like an engulfing wave: The Charlestown resident thought she was having a
heart attack. What she fervently hoped might be an isolated episode repeated many times over—always when she was in line—at the bank or in the grocery store. Sometimes she abandoned her groceries and bolted for the door, where the fresh air would revive her—temporarily.
Married, with three children under the age of 18, Ms. Brown was managing, but barely. The stress of shuttling children to various activities, and almost single-handedly running a household, was taking a toll. While her children fulfilled her, when they were in school
depression settled like a fog. Sitting in a chair for hours, she worked crossword puzzles, falling asleep at the drop of a hat. Plagued by irritable bowel syndrome, she endured severe cramping and intestinal discomfort.
“I lost 40 pounds in six months because I couldn’t eat. I just drank water. Every time I ate, I felt sick,” she said.
Her husband suffered job loss—a devastating blow. On another occasion, she watched while a car, carrying two of her children, including her infant son, was sideswiped at an intersection. Although her children emerged unharmed, the experience recalled another car accident when she was just 16. In that crash, the force of the impact forced her head hard against the windshield. It was all too much.
Ms. Brown consulted a variety of specialists. After undergoing an MRI and an EKG, doctors diagnosed depression and anxiety. Her doctor prescribed medication, which helped.
Divorce followed in 1999. Ms. Brown eventually remarried and secured a full-time position in 2001 as an inventory control clerk at a major discount retail chain. Working five days a week, she stocked store shelves and arranged displays. “It was great, I had nobody standing over me,” she explained. “With my anxiety, I can’t be watched like a hawk. It makes me nervous.”
Life settled into a comfortable rhythm for the next two years. But in June of 2003, she experienced
searing neck and shoulder pain. Thinking she had sprained something, Ms. Brown lived with discomfort for months. Early the next year, with no improvement, and with doctors unable to offer any remedy or explanation, she quit working for a time.
Restored to routine three months later, the retail associate was assigned to “light duty,” answering phones and working in the ladies department. Her hours had been cut in half. “I was hanging up clothes, and pushing them over on the rack. That might have been ‘light duty’,” she offered, “but my arms didn’t work like that anymore.”
Ms. Brown also suffered constant pins and needles in her legs. In June of 2004, a neurologist assigned a name to her condition—
fibromyalgia. A musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder, fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) causes pain in the body’s soft fibrous tissues. A rheumatologist confirmed the diagnosis.
“I love to work, but I couldn’t stand all day, couldn’t do repetitive motion, couldn’t open the boxes,” Ms. Brown said. “I did cashiering and bagging for a while, but if somebody purchased a turkey? Or a case of water? I couldn’t lift it. Anyway, they had replaced me. So I quit.”
Her last day at work was Nov. 11, 2005. By then, with severe balance problems, she could barely walk in a straight line.
Without
medical insurance, she paid off her medical bills bit by bit, trimming food costs and negotiating payment arrangements. As Ms. Brown remembered, “It’s not cheap to be sick. You cut back where you can—bills come first. We ate a lot of Ramen soup.”
At her fibromyalgia support group, she learned that FMS is among the medical conditions that are eligible for disability on the Social Security Administration (SSA)
list of impairments. Buoyed by the news, she went online and quickly found
Allsup.
Allsup, as she would discover, is the nation’s leading
SSDI representation company. CEO and founder Jim Allsup started his company in 1984, after working for the Social Security Administration, to help people just like Susan Brown collect their entitled
SSDI benefits. Guided by four core values—True Help, Fairness, Driven and Expert—and validated by a staggering 98 percent success rate, the disability advocacy company has helped more than 110,000 deserving clients obtain nearly $10.3 billion in SSDI and
Medicare benefits.
Nationwide, about 1.4 million disability claimants are waiting for the outcome of their cases, with some waiting more than two years for resolution. If approved, the benefit helps individuals with severe physical and mental impairments with monthly benefit checks when they can no longer work.
Members of Ms. Brown’s support group relayed stories of working with lawyers to file their claims, which involved meetings and public speaking—an unappealing option for someone with social anxiety. Allsup’s motto—“You stay at home. We do the work”—resonated.
One phone call was all it took to access true help. With eligibility established in a single phone interview, Ms. Brown completed an application and was assigned senior claim consultant Edward Swierczek, who has 36 years of experience in disability advocacy. As Mr. Swierczek noted, “My favorite part of the job is winning cases because I know it will bring some financial relief to my client. If the case is viable, we have an excellent chance of securing benefits for our client. We do inform a client if we do not feel the case is viable for Social Security disability benefits.”
Ms. Brown was denied at level one and also at reconsideration, level two, of the application and appeals process. “They said I might get denied, that it frequently happens, just keep trying, don’t give up,” she explained.
Even at the hearing level, Allsup helps more than 90 percent of its clients secure their rightful benefits. More than 70 percent are awarded without having to appear before a judge. Ms. Brown stayed at home.
Mr. Swierczek submitted a brief on Sept. 16, 2007, and Ms. Brown was awarded
SSDI benefits on Sept. 27—just 11 days later. “The speed of the decision shows that we knocked on the right door, and the right person read what was submitted and agreed with it,” Mr. Swierczek explained. “All it took was thorough preparation and a well-written brief.”
With a lump sum award, a monthly check, Medicare benefits, and Ramen soup pretty much off the menu, Ms. Brown, now 48, counts her lucky stars, and includes Allsup among them. “Allsup made my life better. They really helped me through.”