Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. A smoker since her teens, the bad habit finally ruined Reba McDonald’s health. No longer able to work, this wife and mother needed to find a way to help support her family. Read how Allsup helped Mrs. McDonald regain control of her finances.

 

 

 

 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Reba McDonald had her hands full as a young mother.

 

Her twins, a boy and a girl, were born in 1977, when Reba was 19. Four years later, she gave birth to another girl. Being a mother was her full-time job during those early years.

 

In the early 1990s, with the kids a bit older, Mrs. McDonald started working at a fast food restaurant in Philadelphia. She stayed there seven years before cycling through a series of other physically demanding jobs.

 

She unloaded delivery trucks and stocked shelves for a pharmacy. There was stint at a nursing home, preparing meals and handling housekeeping. Then she took a job as a grocery clerk.

 

The work was consistent. But so was the pain. Constantly on her feet, Mrs. McDonald’s legs ached nonstop. She also began having breathing problems.

 

At first, she mostly felt winded and couldn’t walk hills the way she once had. Within a few years, she was struggling to unload trucks and move products at work, needing to stop and catch her breath every few minutes.

 

A smoker since age 16, Mrs. McDonald woke up one morning and could barely get out of bed. Her doctor ran some tests and told her to see a pulmonary specialist. It was that specialist who provided Mrs. McDonald with a diagnosis: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, a group of lung diseases that block airflow and stifle breathing.

 

Mrs. McDonald had never heard of COPD.

 

“No one in my family had this problem,” she said. “I felt sad for myself.”

 

Health problems started to snowball. The relentless pain in her legs now wrenched her back. Doctors would later determine she suffered from high blood pressure, asthma and emphysema, not to mention the chronic bronchitis that’s a hallmark of COPD.

 

Mrs. McDonald could no longer handle the physical rigors of work in a grocery. In fact, she came to realize she probably couldn’t work at all. Her last day at the grocery was in February 2009.

 

Her sister suggested she look into Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), a federal insurance program overseen by the Social Security Administration (SSA). SSDI provides monthly benefits to people under the full retirement age (65 or older) who can no longer work because of a disability.

 

Mrs. McDonald was familiar with the program. She had little desire to try and navigate the process alone. She went online to look for help and found Allsup, the nation’s leading non-attorney SSDI representation company. Founded in 1984, the Illinois-based firm has helped more than 150,000 people across the country receive the SSDI benefits they paid for throughout their working lives.

 

She spoke with an Allsup representative who explained the process and what information would be needed to move forward. Allsup took her case in August 2009. Experts immediately began gathering her medical information and building a case file.

 

Like most SSDI applicants, Mrs. McDonald’s first attempt at benefits was denied. The SSA rejects nearly two-thirds of all initial applications. A disability appeal was subsequently denied, but Mrs. McDonald was undeterred.

 

 

“I was disappointed, but I knew I wasn’t doing it by myself,” she said. “I knew someone with experience who knew there was a chance I could [receive my benefits].”

 

Her Allsup representatives appealed once more and redoubled their efforts. They circled back to doctors and other experts, strengthening her case file for a potential hearing before an administrative law judge.

 

The wait was financially and, at times, emotionally difficult. Mrs. McDonald was collecting just $205 per month in welfare. Her husband worked mountains of overtime to keep the household going.

 

In the fall of 2010, Mrs. McDonald received the good news. The administrative law judge had awarded her SSDI based solely on the case file prepared by Allsup.

 

The award meant her husband could scale back his overtime. The McDonalds would finally have some breathing room.

 

“All that burden is not on him, and I don’t feel so bad,” Mrs. McDonald said. “I thank God for what I was able to get—at least I can rely on that.”

 

Mrs. McDonald said she plans to point her sister, who also has significant health problems, to Allsup when the time comes.

 

“Allsup is genuine,” Mrs. McDonald said. “I would give anyone I knew that needed help Allsup’s number. They helped me out so much.”