Texas Corrections Officer Struggles with Migraines,
Fights for Disability Benefits

Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Working in the challenging juvenile corrections system was a breeze compared to the constant migraine headache pain that had plagued Kristina McCormick-Vena most of her life. Chronically low levels of spinal fluid left her brain unprotected from impacts against her skull. This persistent corrections officer shares her victory of winning financial relief. Read how she let Allsup do the talking.

 

 

Gainesville, Texas-Working in the juvenile corrections system is a challenging career anytime, but for Kristina McCormick-Vena it was an everyday struggle just to make it through workdays with nearly constant migraine headache pain.

 

“When I sneeze, my brain bounces against my skull,” said Ms. McCormick-Vena, 36. “It would get to the point where it was constantly throbbing, and I was vomiting a lot.” She even felt pain and cramping in her joints.

 

As doctors investigated her problem, they found that her headaches were linked to chronically low levels of spinal fluid. Her spinal fluid levels were about half the normal amount. It’s a rare problem. Cerebrospinal fluid is the brain’s major cushion; normally the brain literally is floating in it to help protect it from impact against the skull.

 

“There’s not a lot they can do for it,” she said. “Mostly they’ve tried a bunch of pain management medications.”

 

Ms. McCormick-Vena worked until May 2005. At that time, she had severe headache pain constantly for more than six weeks. Doctors tested her for various serious medical problems, including spinal meningitis. The tests were stressful and often painful, and included a spinal tap, MRI and myelograms, where the spinal cord and spinal nerves are X-rayed using a contrast dye injected through the spinal fluid.

 

Common occurrences, even the change in barometric pressure before a thunderstorm, cause Ms. McCormick-Vena to reel with pain. “The headaches came out of left field; I kept thinking the neurologist would find some way to help fix the problem. When they told me to try to go for disability, it was a shocker. I just really wanted to get back to work.”

 

The idea of being disabled was not an easy proposition for a busy young working mother of four children, ages 4, 12 and 16 years and an 18-month-old. Ms. McCormick-Vena was a corrections worker and a school bus driver for six years before she became disabled.

 

She was just 31 when she first applied for disability. “It was really hard because I was a single mother for the longest time,” she said. “I kept hoping it was like a spinal leak that could be fixed.”

 

She received short-term disability coverage through her work, but when it was clear that her situation was not improving, her workplace recommended she contact Allsup for help.

 

“We had tried twice on our own,” Ms. McCormick-Vena said of seeking Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). “Dealing with the Social Security people, it was hard to get through to them. And after I was denied a second time, they said there was nothing else to do - that was not true.”

 

She had concerns about ever receiving SSDI. “Migraines are so hard to prove,” she said. But once she was diagnosed with decreased spinal fluid, it seemed possible to make a strong case for disability coverage.

 

Ms. McCormick-Vena said that once Allsup was on the case, they took the lead and worked on her behalf for more than two years. Ultimately, her case went before an administrative law judge. She recalls that her representative from Allsup, Ruth Smith, prepared her well and “did most of the talking” during the hearing.

 

“We weren’t in there 15 minutes,” she remembered. “It went really well for me.” The judge even ruled in her favor from the bench, so she didn’t have to wait to learn the outcome. She is now one of the more than 150,000 people who have received SSDI benefits with Allsup’s expert guidance. The company has a 98 percent award rate for those who complete the SSDI process with Allsup.

 

“It was such a relief that I didn’t have to fight for it anymore and that I wouldn’t have people thinking I was nuts,” she said with a chuckle. Plus, there had been the stress of losing her income. “It was tight,” she said of her financial situation during the several years she was seeking SSDI.

 

Still, there was grief related to leaving a career she found so rewarding. “I know I changed kids’ lives,” she said. As a juvenile correction officer, she acted as a day parent to 18 kids on her hall at a state juvenile correction facility. “It was like any parent raising 18 kids,” she said. When she was having severe pain, the kids sometimes would even try to help by being quieter than normal.

 

The diagnosis answered some questions in Ms. McCormick-Vena’s mind. She has battled severe headaches for as long as she can remember. Even as a third-grader, she said, she remembered having headaches at least three times a month.

 

Ms. McCormick-Vena said she definitely feels grateful for the blessings in her life, including a group of supportive friends. Her teenage children help her a great deal around the house and assist with care of their younger siblings.

 

But she’s especially thankful for the expert help Allsup provided when she needed it most. She tells about her experience with Allsup any time she thinks it can help someone else who needs SSDI. Her biggest message to others: “Don’t give up. You have to be persistent.”