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Multiple Sclerosis - 30%, Should We Appeal?
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gmigs13
My wife got out of the military and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after the birth of our second daughter. She had 10% disability upon leaving the military, and after about 1 1/2 years, finally got back her rating as 30% for the MS with a combined 40% w/ her previous rating. Of course, they need more information to prove she's married to me and I guess they lost the birth certificate for our second child so the actual amounts are wrong on the paper.
My question is, should we automatically appeal the 30% as it is the lowest she can be rated with MS? Fatigue is her current issue. We're blessed in the fact that my wife has rebounded from her MS quite well with only mild peripheral vision loss. There were several bad years w/depression for which she is still followed by an excellent neurologist at Johns Hopkins and receives monthly infusions but is off all other medications currently. There's always the risk that her disease could progress, but is it safe to assume if she does have something devastating happen in the future we can appeal at that time for additional compensation? The only frustrating thing for us is that when she goes to the infusion center, half of the other MS patients are rated much higher than her, up to 100% in several cases and don't seem that severe. They were all diagnosed while active duty though. It still boggles my mind that we can't backtrack the payments to the day she was diagnosed in the hospital. Is that something worth appealing to? Her award date is 2 years after her actual diagnosis because we weren't aware it was service connected at the time.
Thank you for any assistance. We've been sitting on the award letter for months now. She has payback for her separation bonus so any reward we get we won't see for several years anyway. Getting closer to that 1 year out from award date and need to make a decision on whether to keep going with this process.
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Gastone
What Berta Said annnnnnnd, keep the Claim ALIVE!! Don't ever give up a Retro Date due to allowing a rating to become final. My DRO Hearing Request from 2010 just happened this past 06/14. Maybe mine t
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