Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a difficult and complex process. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Lucinda Umiamaka had been diagnosed with multiple ailments when she experienced initial denial. In spite of her physical challenges, she persevered in claiming the benefits she deserved. She shares her story here.

This is a true story as told to Allsup.

 

 

Wai’anae, Hawaii—Little by little, Lucinda Umiamaka started losing her grip.

 

For a chef of 30 years, the unrelenting loss of hand strength was devastating—and dangerous. She couldn’t hold her razor-sharp knives or grasp the heavy, boiling pots as she could before.

 

“It was a gradual thing,” said the 59-year-old who lives in Wai’anae, a coastal town on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. “At first, I just thought I was overtired.”

 

Mrs. Umiamaka nearly lived in the kitchen, baking, cooking and prepping food for hotels and catering businesses, even as a food service director for a Catholic university. “I used to work 12 hours a day, sometimes 60 or 70 hours a week,” she said. “That was my life.”

 

She managed despite significant health issues. As a child, Mrs. Umiamaka had problems with running and balance, and her joints were abnormally loose, but no one understood why. When she was 30 and working on a sailboat tour, she dislocated her shoulder. When it didn’t heal properly, doctors discovered the underlying cause: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, an inherited, genetic problem that causes connective tissues throughout the body to be extremely fragile and abnormally elastic.

 

“Doctors told me I’d probably be in a wheelchair. To me, it wasn’t real. I took the attitude: ‘I’ll prove you wrong,’ ” Mrs. Umiamaka remembered with a chuckle.

 

She did. She continued to work, but as the years went on, it became more and more difficult and painful. “It was a struggle,” she remembers. A common effect of long-term Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is osteoarthritis, which causes the cartilage and cushions of the joints to gradually wear away. “My joints were all bone on bone,” she said.

 

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is an autoimmune disorder, which means a person’s body begins to attack and destroy its own tissues. People with one autoimmune disorder are at higher risk of developing additional autoimmune diseases. In 1998, Mrs. Umiamaka was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, another serious autoimmune disease. During her first attack of MS, she suddenly had a very difficult time walking.

 

“When it happens, my body just doesn’t function,” she said. “It’s like my whole body is numb and tingly, like a case of the needles all over, just a weird feeling.”

 

For Mrs. Umiamaka, the episodes of severe weakness can last a few days to a week, and then go away completely, which is typical of the relapsing-remitting type of MS. When she was first diagnosed, she would have such episodes about once or twice a year. But in recent times, she experiences severe weakness four or five times a year.

 

Still, she said it’s a point of honor that she continued working until Dec. 10, 2004. However, by the end of her working life, she had taken a job at a wholesale travel company, working on a computer and booking reservations, because it was less physically demanding than her duties in the kitchen. “Eventually, though, I couldn’t even get out of the chair. My hands and arms would go completely numb. I thought: ‘This just isn’t working.’ ”

 

Soon after, Mrs. Umiamaka began her quest for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. The former chef didn’t think she needed professional assistance to apply for the insurance benefits that she had paid for throughout her working life. She thought it would be relatively simple even though it meant wading through a daunting pile of paperwork. “I had years of doctors’ records and had many surgeries to keep my joints together over the years,” she said. “But then I would get the letters from the Social Security Administration saying ‘You’re denied.’”

 

The growing number of years without income took their toll. “Without my salary, we lost everything,” Mrs. Umiamaka said, including their home. Mrs. Umiamaka’s husband is a union construction worker, and his work often fluctuates with the seasons and the economy.

 

“We were homeless,” Mrs. Umiamaka said. “When you don’t know where you’re going to sleep, and you don’t have a home, it’s a scary thought.” Money was so tight, Mrs. Umiamaka didn’t even buy needed medicines for a year.

 

She wondered what, if anything, she could do next. Then one day on the Internet, she happened to see an online advertisement about Allsup.

 

If people call that a stroke of luck, Mrs. Umiamaka corrects them. “It was divine intervention—I believe that,” she said. “In seven months, they got farther than I did in four years. I know if not for Allsup, I still would not have benefits.”

 

Since 1984, Allsup has fought for disability benefits for more than 110,000 deserving clients, assisting them in receiving more than $10 billion in SSDI and Medicare payments. The company serves people with disabilities nationwide from its headquarters in Belleville, Ill., near St. Louis.

 

One of Allsup’s core values is True Helping. Mrs. Umiamaka said that Allsup representatives embodied that value every time she dealt with them.

 

“They were totally wonderful,” Mrs. Umiamaka said. “They treated me like I was their only client.”

 

Allsup senior claimant representative Michele Kaufman shepherded Mrs. Umiamaka’s claim through the disability process. And she never lost sight that Mrs. Umiamaka’s future totally depended on the quality of her work.

 

“She had a lot of things to deal with,” Ms. Kaufman said. “It’s a high-stakes job—you’re dealing with peoples’ lives. At this point, most people have been dealing with the process for at least three years. It’s really a critical stage for them, and can be life or death.”

 

Mrs. Umiamaka was awarded SSDI at Level 3—the second appeal level—in September 2008. She did not have to go to a hearing, but received an on-the-record decision, which Mrs. Umiamaka also considered a blessing and True Helping. “It definitely speeds up the process,” Ms. Kaufman said.

 

Allsup CEO and founder Jim Allsup said that the concept of True Helping is a guiding force in the company’s work.

 

“This truly represents us and how we’ve operated as a company for 25 years,” Mr. Allsup said. “Each time we interact with our customers and partners—answer a claimant’s phone call, request medical histories or present a case before a judge—we demonstrate our empathy, expertise and tenacity.”

 

“They fought for me all the way,” Mrs. Umiamaka said. She is proud to be an Allsup client—so much so that she feels like she is Oahu’s main spokesperson for the company. “I’ve passed out their telephone number to so many people,” she said. “If they can help some people I know, that would be wonderful.”

 

Even though her family lost their home and is now renting, Mrs. Umiamaka said the monthly SSDI benefit she receives has given her a great deal of peace. She and her husband were able to pay their bills and pay back family members who helped tide them over in the worst times. “That was huge, because we owed everybody.”

 

Now that times are better, Mrs. Umiamaka’s outlook is bright. She does water aerobics to strengthen her muscles and support her joints, and rises from bed at 5 a.m. every day—faster some days than others—to take care of her home, husband and three large dogs that are like family to the couple.

 

“Technically, and in the eyes of the federal government, I’m disabled,” Mrs. Umiamaka said. “But that doesn’t mean that I can’t function. I am just physically challenged.”