Chicago Retail Veteran Turns to Experts for Disability Benefits

Chicago, Illinois ? As a grade school student, Delores Marsh became a mother figure to her family of four after their mother died. She considered going away to college after high school, but that matronly role kept her close to home.

Mrs. Marsh spent a couple semesters at a junior college before transferring to a secretarial school. She finished the secretarial program and felt ready for a new challenge.

Working two jobs at this point, she enrolled in an accounting institute. But after three semesters, the attraction to accounting faded. Mrs. Marsh left the institute, married a long-time-boyfriend and decided to make a career in retail.

A series of jobs followed over the next 15 years, from children?s stores and jewelry boutiques to plus-size apparel shops. She got her first management role at a women?s clothing store and never looked back.

In 2005, Mrs.

Marsh became the co-manager of a Chicago clothing store. Unfortunately, it was the last job she ever held.

A few months earlier, before taking the new job, Mrs. Marsh had injured herself at work. She picked up a heavy box awkwardly, hauled it up a ladder and placed it on a high shelf. Sharp pain coursed through her shoulder and worsened considerably by that evening.

An orthopedic specialist confirmed a rotator cuff tear and related problems. An insulin-dependent diabetic with high blood pressure, Mrs. Marsh worked through the pain.

Her orthopedic specialist scoped the shoulder in the fall of 2005 and restricted her to light duty. The clothing company balked at the request, leaving Mrs. Marsh with little choice but to quit.

Mrs.

Marsh?s wanted to work, but her health deteriorated further. Constantly fatigued and wracked with muscle pain, she could barely walk some days. She had also developed hyperthyroidism and lost more than 50 pounds within six months.

Mrs. Marsh decided to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, a federal insurance program that provides monthly benefits to people under full retirement age (65 or older) and those who can no longer work because of a disability.

Afraid to navigate the process alone, she went online to look for help and found Allsup, the nation?s leading SSDI representation company.

The company took her case in March 2008. An Allsup representative explained the process and started immediately gathering medical information. A claims expert coordinated new physician appointments and pulled together a substantial case file for the Social Security Administration.

The agency denied her initial application and subsequent appeal, which is common. The next step would be to take her case before an administrative law judge. Mrs. Marsh?s Allsup representatives worked to bolster her file.

After months of waiting, the judge reviewed Mrs. Marsh?s extensive case file and awarded her SSDI benefits on the spot, with no need for a formal hearing.

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