Women fight to get benefits for breast cancer survivors rushed
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Jeannie Azzopardi fought one battle to save her life and now the breast cancer survivor is fighting a second to save her home.
Jeannie and her daughter, Jesse, are taking their fight to elected officials through a petition. They want them to listen and make a change, because Jesse feels like her mom can't be the only breast cancer survivor fighting this battle.
Jeannie was denied disability benefits and, even though they're trying to appeal, they know time is running out.
In October 2010, Jeannie was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a mastectomy, two emergency surgeries and months of chemotherapy.
"Luckily, it was caught early, because I went right away for a mammogram," she said from her Ashland home through Skype.
Now three years later and cancer free, she is still recovering from chemotherapy and painful shoulder surgery. She can only lift her arm just above her head.
Jeannie hasn't been able to work full time, and her application for disability benefits was denied.
"According to Social Security, I was perfectly capable of working. They told me, I should adjust."
Now she's received a letter, saying her home is heading into foreclosure.
"I can't even talk about it, it's just awful," her daughter Jessie said at her home in Northwest Portland.
She's running out of options to help.
"My husband and I went through our savings to try and help her to keep her in the house, and it's not working," she said.
She wrote 250 letters, even to Rep. Peter DeFazio, and only got a few responses: All saying they couldn't help.
Now Jesse's created an online petition, gathering signatures, not just for her mom but other survivors.
"I'm asking them to get the Social Security disability benefits to these cancer patients in a timely manner – three years waiting time is ridiculous," she said.
Jesse has more than 130 signatures right now. She's gathering them until the end of February. Then she plans on taking them to a list of local representatives and demanding change.
I'm rather amazed at the vehement comments. I have to say that it is very difficult to go public...but, as so many people have pointed out, I am not the only one who is going through this fight.
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My case is extraordinary - 8 surgeries and chemo in 2 years' time. It's just the way it came down.
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Other cancer patients, and survivors, have to go through the same fight. No matter what strange path you go down in your comments...it is not right! And it's about time someone said it out loud and our elected officials stopped behaving like this crap is actually okay.
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I've thought about how many people are out there hurting. So many have the right to disability and so many are in far worse physical shape than I am. Does that negate my need? Or yours? Or anyone else going through the ordeal of cancer? More then 52% of the population of Oregon are women. There were 3,000 cases of invasive breast cancer were reported in 2009. In the past 3+ years, that number has grown exponentially.
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I've paid into Social Security since I was 13 years old. It's mandatory. And it is insurance. Unless you've been through the process...man, you have no idea how demeaning it is; how SSD makes you feel like you've done something wrong.
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Yes, I have an attorney. Yes, we've contacted elected officials. They work for us - not the other way around. They are supposed to serve our interests...to be our champions.
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If you knew...any of you...just how many women I've seen devastated by this disease; devastated by one refusal after another by SSD; devastated by limitations to their health care choices, you'd be mad too. However, they don't fight...they don't know how to advocate for themselves. All my doctors tell those patients that there is someone out there advocating for THEM too. How can we not go public? And if that means that there will be harsh, uninformed, and "mean" comments....I say - bring it.
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Have more questions? I'll answer them all.
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Jeannie Azzopardi
How about the billions and billions of dollars collected each year for Cancer research... yeah, where is that money??  We are no further in our cure for cancer research since the 1960s.. Anyone know where their donations actually go? You would think billions of dollars later we would have a cure by now, at least something less drastic as chemotherapy. The government is a joke and always will be. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I would bet there is a cure and no doctors or hospitals want it known, they would lose billions of dollars a year.  That is a fact!  Letting the children die is their biggest crime.Â
 @MrAchilles I recommend you read "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer". I'm not saying that all the money was well spent but we would have been better off to not lump all cancers under the same label "cancer". It turns out it sort of like saying anything to do with the lungs from asthma to cystic fibrosis to pneumonia are all one things called "bad lung". Some cancers we can almost always cure now and others we can barely touch because they have different causes and different pathologies.
Actually, that's not true. Cancer research has come a long way.
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The government /is/ a joke in most cases, which is why a myriad of private groups push the funding for cancer.
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If there was a cure for cancer, the tobacco companies would be all over it. Dead customers spend no money. You honestly think that doctors like watching people deal with cancer? You may want to see a doctor yourself then.
I sympathize with what you have had to endure - I know cancer treatments and surgeries can zap both your phyiscal well being, plus your mental well being. But that said, I don't believe your situation should qualify for disability. There are plenty of occupations out there that could and would accommodate your physical limitations. I work (in an office environment)Â with very painful arthritis, but when it gets too painful for how I am doing something one way, I find another way that is not as painful.
Now, if she wanted a weiner attached, or a guy wanted his 'outie' turned into an 'innie', Oregon would be all over it.
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So, this is what I get out of it:Â Oregon says, "F cancer, we want more sex changes."
 @JGalt Oregon isn't involved in her battle with Social Security whatsoever.  Federal agency....guess you didn't know.
 @Sundowner  @JGaltÂ
Actually, SSI is a Federal program but each state is independently run. There is both State and Federal Social Security. Guess you didn't know.
You just responded to 'the woman'. I'm pretty sure she knows what she's been dealing with.
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Jeannie, I've already written DeFazio. If he doesn't get with it, he'll have a few more questions to answer.
 @Jeannie Azzopardi There's a difference between Social Security Disability and SSI.  I believe this story is talking about the woman's efforts to receive Social Security Disability benefits. Â
Social Security Disability rules are pretty simple and clear. Â If a person is able to perform ANY work in the national economy, they are not considered disabled (though there are percentages of disability). Â It doesn't matter whether the person has any work experience in the available jobs (they can be trained/retrained), nor does it matter if the jobs are available where the person lives. Â For example, this woman might have worked her entire life in Salem as a hairdresser. Â She may not be able to perform that work any longer, but she can perform the requirements to be an agricultural sorter for jobs available only in Texas -- she has no experience as an agricultural sorter and lives thousands of miles away from available work, but she is not 'disabled' according to Social Security.
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Why on earth has she not contacted an attorney who specializes in Social Security disability matters -- a far better move than writing letters?? Â They require no money up front, they receive a pre-determined percentage (an amount capped by law) when you "win", and virtually no one wins an appeal without one because the law is very specialized in this area. Â Most if not all will review her case for free. Â Or has she done that, been told "Sorry -- you're able to work in some capacity", and is now trying to get around a reasonable determination made by Social Security? Â To be determined "permanently totally disabled", a person can't perform any form of work in any setting in any location. Â It doesn't sound to me like she meets that simple requirement.
 @Sundowner Attorneys know how to work the system, and she needs to find a good lawyer who knows the SS and IRS laws to do that.Â
But, even if she could work, is there work for her? Being in an age bracket where it is cheaper to hire a teenager or college student rather than an older person makes a huge difference. There is discrimination abounding in that area.Â
I am sorry for your situation. But it sounds to me like you could work. SSD is only for those who can't work and if everyone could get on it easily it would go bankrupt in a few years instead of going bankrupt in a decade.
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Here is how to scam the system.
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If someone gets very sick and they own a house, put the house in a trust or the name of the spouse and take the name of the sick person off the house. Put all savings in the name of someone other than the sick person. The sick person will then be a renter and financially destitute. Once they are a renter and poor they can apply for a lot of government benefits including health benefits, welfare, food stamps and so on.
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My wife and I are working towards making that happen. We will even get divorced if we have to so that either of us can qualify for welfare. There are ways to make it work. Most often it takes shifting finances around and will cost money to do that but the benefits are well worth the effort.
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Government loves to give out money and the key is to make it happen so that one can qualify.
I read the headline five times and still have no idea what they're talking about. Rushed? Huh? Oh copy editors...time to check in on the interns again!
Should it say, "Women Fight to Rush Benefits to Breast Cancer Survivors"?
#shakinghead
 @correct I'm so disgusted with the grammar of our media now. I would have been almost flogged by my English teacher if I were to have written that statement.
Good luck to you getting anything done going through elected officials.
 @old_dollor I question why she's going the route of contacting politicians instead of a good attorney.....I suspect she's been told she has no legitimate case and is hoping this public plea for help will make something special happen just for her.  I've been dealing with Social Security for over 20 years with my husband (on-the-job traumatic brain injury)...if she'd contacted an attorney from the get-go, she'd be months/years ahead of the game.  Sure, she may not feel up to performing her "old" job, but there's likely something she can do for gainful employment.  Amputees work, blind and/or deaf people work, mentally handicapped people work.  Disability is reserved (rightfully so, IMO) for those who cannot work in any way at any job in any location.  Sounds like she doesn't meet those requirements.  Â
 @Sundowner  @old_dollorÂ
The politicians are slow to start, and her attorne has not been able to move up her hearing for an appeal. She is asking for retroactive disability for the entire year, in which she met the requirements. She is working. She does have a job. Not a good one. And She is limited in the amount of hours she can work. Survivors need help too, and they don't get it as quickly as those demanding unemployment.
 @Tristans Dad  @old_dollor It took 3 years for my husband to begin receiving benefits -- he was in a coma the first time he was denied.  Granted, the appeal process is very slow, but you said she is working, she does have a low-paying job but is limited in the number of hours she can work....right there you just said she isn't disabled according to Social Security rules/regulations (which are completely different than 'regular' disability).  I feel bad for her, I'm sure times are tough, but can you imagine how quickly Social Security would tank if everyone who had cancer in the past and now has a bum shoulder qualified for full benefits?  As I said, SSD is reserved for those who cannot work in any job in any setting at any location in the "national economy".  Why should she receive benefits in lieu of working while others far more disabled continue to work?   Â