Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. During his travels around the world while in the Air Force, Charles Brown never encountered foes as big as the health-related ones that awaited him in California. Read how Allsup advocated for Mr. Brown’s financial health while he fought off non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and a variety of illnesses.

 

 

 

California City, California—Charles Brown joined the Air Force to see the world.

           

He found a life’s calling in the process.

           

The journey began with help from his mother, who had to sign off on the 17-year-old’s enlistment. Charles had graduated two years early from high school and tried a semester of college, but the environment didn’t suit him.

           

Eager to travel, he joined the Air Force in 1964, a year before the U.S. began deploying combat troops to Vietnam. Mr. Brown was immersed in the world of logistics, and it soon became his specialty.

 

After two years in Southeast Asia, he spent the next two decades crisscrossing the globe, from Alaska to Germany and finally to Edwards Air Force Base, about 90 minutes north of Los Angeles.

 

Mr. Brown and his wife, a French citizen he met in Germany, settled in California City on the outskirts of the sprawling base. After two years at Edwards, Mr. Brown decided to retire after 26 years and enter the civilian world.

 

His logistics and purchasing background caught the attention of a charter management company based at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles. The small public airport is used primarily for private and chartered flights and has long served as a hub for celebrities and politicians.

 

As a purchasing manager, Mr. Brown was soon overseeing logistics and ordering for a squad of specialized jets that would eventually number nearly 60. He also met scores of movie stars and athletes.

 

“I loved it, I really did,” Mr. Brown said. “It was just like [the job] I had during the military; that same sense of camaraderie.”

 

But some health problems followed Mr. Brown from his military career to the civilian workforce, including high blood pressure, a damaged hand and degenerative disc disease. After five years at Van Nuys, a frightening new condition flared.

 

As a work day came to an end, Mr. Brown developed what he thought was a nasty case of heartburn. The pain escalated as evening came. He went to a military hospital and was immediately admitted after suffering what doctors later told him was congestive heart failure.

 

He returned to work after a month of recuperation. Another seven relatively issue-free years passed. Then a painful, swollen gland brought Mr. Brown back to a military doctor.

 

The physician issued an instant diagnosis, which a biopsy confirmed within days: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that originates in the lymphatic system. Three days later, a surgeon removed most of the cancer from Mr. Brown’s neck. He then started a 10-week course of radiation that shredded the skin on his neck and burned him “black as a teapot.”

 

Mr. Brown was in remission for five years before the cancer returned, this time in his groin. Doctors were able to excise the cancer without radiation. They declared him in remission again in April 2008.

 

Three months later, Mr. Brown decided to have surgery on his problematic hand, which he had recently reinjured. He returned to work in November and was fired the same day.

 

Devastated, he resolved to file for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. SSDI is a federal insurance program overseen by the Social Security Administration that provides monthly benefits to people under full retirement age (65 or older) who can no longer work because of a disability.

 

From the outset, Mr. Brown vowed to get help. He had spent much of the past decade watching his wife battle for workers’ compensation relief after she fell on the job. He went online 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.

 

He spoke with an Allsup representative and the company took his case in December 2008. His representative and Allsup claims experts rounded up medical reports and other pertinent information.

 

The SSA rejected Mr. Brown’s initial application and his disability appeal. The months wore on, and the Browns slowly ate through their savings during a stretch Mr. Brown calls “pure hell.”

 

But his Allsup representatives redoubled their efforts, pulling together additional documentation that strengthened his disability application. After 15 relentless months, Allsup’s dedication paid off when an administrative law judge awarded Mr. Brown’s disability benefits based on his comprehensive case file alone. Allsup’s work was so thorough that an in-person hearing wasn’t required.

 

He and his wife finally regained a financial foothold.

 

“I don’t think I would have ever gotten it if it hadn’t been for Allsup,” Mr. Brown said. “They kept fighting and telling me to hang in there. Allsup did great things for me.”