Ray's Story

I pride myself on always doing my part, taking no handouts from anybody and doing whatever I can to take care of myself. I'm a no-nonsense kind of guy and I don't like it when someone is trying to take advantage of me or trying to get a deal they don’t deserve. I'm also a self-starter and when I see a job that needs to be done, I'm the first one to jump in and do it. So you can imagine how reluctant I was to try to get disability following my accident at work. I didn't even want to take the short-term disability my company was willing to pay me because I really just wanted to go back to work.

Well, as it turns out, I went back to work too soon and re-injured my back within a few months. Since I waived the disability my company was going to pay me, I was really in a bad situation. The pain was so bad, that many days I had to crawl just to get around. Finally, my doctor said I had to have surgery or risk suffering this pain the rest of my life.

As they were running tests for the surgery, they found out I was allergic to all kinds of drugs, which now made the surgery impossible. The only thing my doctor thought might help me was lots of physical therapy and plenty of rest to try to improve the condition of my back muscles and spine. He told me it would probably be at least a year or two before I might be able to return to work.

I've always been a person who tries to do it myself EXCEPT when I know an expert can do it better. So I immediately started looking for someone to help me get disability while I was out of work since I knew I didn’t have a clue how to do that. Hiring an attorney turned out to be the smartest thing I have done in a long time.

At the appeal hearing, I felt respected and prepared, because of my lawyer working with me and getting all my paperwork organized. It didn't take long for me to get my letter of approval and begin receiving benefits. And it's been three years and with the money I have received, I have been able to work with a physical therapist and actually see progress in my ability to move around.

While I still can't lift anything more than 2 pounds, I am up off the floor and that is a big improvement. I'm even hoping that I can get off disability and return to work if my back continues to get better. I'm not ready to retire yet but I appreciate the help in getting to the point where I feel almost back to myself again. My advice---it's always smart to hire a professional and get the job done right.

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