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Valerie is a 45 year old woman living in the state of Connecticut. She lives with her husband, Jeff, and their two teenage daughters. Jeff is a successful banker, while Valerie worked as a seamstress from their home, and she primarily obtained business making alternations on garments. The family is covered under medical insurance supplied by Jeff’s employer.

In March of 2009, Valerie was diagnosed with a rare type of bone marrow cancer. The diagnosis came after several months of joint pain, unexplained weakness, and chronic fatigue that prevented Valerie from taking on any new alteration jobs. She received a bone marrow transplant and underwent chemotherapy.

During this time, Jeff assisted Valerie with an application for Social Security Disability benefits. While waiting for the decision, Valerie was also diagnosed with Graft Vs. Host Disease as a complication of her bone marrow transplant. She was given high doses of corticosteroids to help combat the Graft vs. Host Disease, and during these treatments in September of 2009 she received her denial letter from Social Security. SSA had determined that she was not disabled because they did not believe her condition was severe enough to last at least 12 months. They believed she was making progress and that she would recover, making her able to return to work as a seamstress.

Jeff felt dumbfounded by Social Security’s refusal to allow Valerie benefits, as she continued to become sicker and sicker. As a result of one of the corticosteroids, Valerie had developed an aggressive form of necrotic pancreatitis. She was hospitalized at the end of August, and her stomach needed to be surgically opened in order to relieve the pressure to her abdomen. Much of the tissue inside of her stomach cavity was dying, and there were many times that her doctors felt that she would not survive.

In October 2009, Jeff filed a Request for Reconsideration on Valerie’s behalf. She was in a medically induced coma, and Jeff was activated as her Power of Attorney. Jeff explained all of the new developments to Social Security, and he advised them that it would be several months before Valerie would even be allowed to go home, let alone work. She had lost most of her muscle mass and would need to relearn how to do many of her normal physical activities, but this was only if the doctors were able to get her Graft vs. Host disease and pancreatitis under control.

In April of 2010, Jeff finally received notice that Valerie’s Request for Reconsideration had been approved. She was approved for SSDI payments of $1,125 per month, and each of her teenage daughters was to receive $236 per month as auxiliary benefits. However, the onset date that Social Security determined to be the date of Valerie’s disability was August of 2009 when she developed pancreatitis. Jeff received a back payment for four months of benefits totaling $4,500, and Valerie’s monthly payments were expected to begin in May of 2009.

Jeff was upset by the finding for Valerie’s onset date, as the reason that Valerie developed pancreatitis was because of medications received for her Graft vs. Host disease. Since the Graft vs. Host began in April 2009 after her bone transplant, Jeff felt that should have been the onset date. This would have entitled Valerie to four additional months of back payments.

Jeff decided to consult an attorney that specialized in Social Security claims to find out his options and if there was a way to appeal the onset date. Jeff’s attorney advised him that like any unfavorable decision, an onset date could be appealed. However, this would mean that the entire decision, not just the onset date, would need to be appealed. They could agree with Jeff and find that Valerie’s onset date should actually be April of 2009, they could keep the onset date the same, or they could overturn the entire allowance of benefits altogether and decide that she was able to work. Additionally, in the months that it would take to receive a decision on the appeal, Valerie and her daughters would not be able to receive cash benefits. Jeff weighed his options and decided that appealing the decision would be too risky, and he settled with the later onset date.

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