Finally!!! After almost five years of fighting, I got approved!
Firstly, I want to thank those in this subreddit community who gave me insight, advice, guidance, and encouragement. I’ve learned so much from you all and I’m so grateful to have had y’all as a part of my journey and story.
I believe in tenacity, perseverance and determination. These are three things I had to have when fighting for my truth, reality, and livelihood. I was denied, denied, and denied again and that was with representation. Then, when my attorney told me that I should just start back over from scratch, I knew there was something wrong with the picture. I had to let them go.
So, due to the limited amount of time I had before my first ALJ hearing, I had to represent myself. I had no clue what to expect for this over-the-phone hearing. I also didn’t know that my judge had only a 12% approval rating…actually the worst in the state. Of course, I was denied and luckily my case was remanded. It’s a shame I had to go back before the same judge to be heard again. This time though, I had representation. He was fantastic. I knew immediately he was a gift from God when I realized we had the same initials…MK. He took me in, under his wings and sat beside me for my second hearing (face to face) and declared he would fight for me until the end. After this second hearing and being denied again, my case was once again remanded. Then, I got the letter with the name of my new judge. Just seeing this new name gave me hope. And so, on May 19th, I had a phone hearing and felt so at ease. When I heard the VE say there were no jobs available that I could work, I felt the tears well up in my eyes. It was only seven days later that I found out I had been approved!!!!
Yes, this was a hard fight. But, I told myself I would not give up and I would appeal, appeal, appeal. And, I must say, I am so glad I did. It was that voice from God that helped guide me down this turbulent road. I’m so looking forward to receiving my first check on Tuesday and my backpay sooner, than later. 🩵🩵🩵