Always remember the second half of the bridge- “But if you try sometime, you’ll find…you get what you need.” It’s the theme song of my VA litigation journey at VA. This is a great win for a poor, horribly disabled Veteran (now deceased) and his surviving bereaved widow who repeatedly got the poopy end of the VA punji stick. Sometimes I get nauseous reading AOJ rating decisions. The AI jargon in there oozes disdain and indifference to the widow’s plight. It’s plumb disrespectful.
In this case, Cheryl came to me with her husband’s long travails to get SC for the ALS that was killing him. This kind of law is my favorite. ALS, MD, MS, Parkie’s, leukemia, cancer- you name it. If it’s killing you, I want to defend you. If he’s already dead, I want first stab at torturing the VA to make it right for you. The VA screwed me for 28 long years.
In Vietnam, we had a rather macabre sense of humor considering we could die at any time from incoming mail. A common phrase heard when a guy was charcoal was “If you’re dyin’, I’m buyin’. ” It meant if you’re going to die, “I’ll give you my last hit of Jack Daniels in my backpack” or “I’ll give you my last Marb Red and even light it for you.” Once they loaded you on the Dustoff and you were evac’d to the 312th at Chu Lai, you weren’t gonna be lightin’ up inside the hospital or dropping by the Class VI store.
When Cheryl came to me with Don, he was waaaaay into Jack Daniels country. I will say I fought the good fight for his Lou Gehrig’s disease but when I saw he’d been 100 for Prostate since 2015, I realized this was going to be the real financial lifesaver for Cheryl when he augered in.
Sure enough, Don checked out about 8 months later and my work really began. Today the song panned out- Cheryl got what she need. I only wish she’d found me about 10 years ago in 2015 and ol’ Don would have been R1 until ’22 when the ALS really began kicking his ass.
Could’ve, Would’ve and Should’ve ran in the 4th, 5th and 6th races at Golden Gardens as my daddy used to say. Que sera, sera. God Bless you and yours, Cheryl. I’m blessed to have been allowed to fight this one for Don and you. I can’t rightly say how many more of them I have left to be honest.
Check it out.
As Wavy Gravy said one morning overlooking us in Max Yasgur’s back forty, “We must be in Heaven, man!”
P.S. and while I was writing this article, another piece of good luck rained down on one of my oldest clients. VA must hate him. I’ve had to buy two IMOs to get him to permanent and total. Everything we’ve ever filed was denied at the local Fort Fumble. He’s got a ton of frequent filer miles stacked up at the BVA. His is the absolute shortest BVA decision I’ve ever received. I got his other one back last week for a win all around. If this keeps up, I’m gonna have to learn how to shit ice creme and walk on water.
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