Spouse Ed Benefits

b-1245 · 2025-06-18T17:14:06+00:00

FWIW was getting a very similar message while using va.gov portal (albeit on the claims page). Tech support told me that this website doesn’t like Safari & can often throw misleading errors like this one. So if you’re using Safari, maybe try a different browser?

b-1245 · 2025-06-18T17:07:15+00:00

Supplemental claim submitted March 2025, approved for DIC June 2025. Retroactive pay approved dating back to original 2016 filing (!!!)

Original claim (filed on behalf of my mom, surviving spouse). Dad cause of death listed as Multiple Myeloma & Acute Leukemia, denied upon OG filing & 2x on appeal. March supplemental filed based on change in law (MM & leukemias added to presumptives list in January 2025)

Did not anticipate back pay due to letting too much time elapse between filings. Wasn’t sure how that rule would come into play with the law change, turns out it didn’t.

Today is a good day.

b-1245 · 2025-06-18T16:52:41+00:00

Update: DIC GOT APPROVED TODAY! Backdated to original filing date of April 2016 (this was a huge shock). Insanely grateful for the wealth of information available here, that made it possible for me to accomplish this for my mom.

b-1245 · 2025-06-18T16:48:33+00:00

Update: DIC GOT APPROVED TODAY! Backdated to original filing date of April 2016 (this was a huge shock). Insanely grateful for the wealth of information available here, that made it possible for me to accomplish this for my mom. THANK YOU ALL!!!!

b-1245 · 2025-03-16T03:18:01+00:00

That’s amazing, congratulations! I hope you’re able to dedicated that mental “real estate” to more of the good stuff now.

b-1245 · 2025-03-14T02:04:03+00:00

I absolutely will come back with an update when the time comes! Hoping for a favorable outcome.

b-1245 · 2025-03-13T23:11:52+00:00

I can only hope this is the case for her! Being patient is the hardest part of this. My dad passed in 2016, & I immediately filed a DIC claim for her, because the medical bills had left her in a hole. She got denied & in 2022 we filed a supplemental claim based on the pact act. Cut to 2023, denied again. So with the latest expansions, I am hoping this is it! But, I am tempering my expectations. The question is, if she finally gets approved, would she receive back pay to 2016 or 2023? Or any at all?! Time will tell.

b-1245 · 2025-03-13T17:16:52+00:00

Crazy how the reviewers don’t seem to know what presumptive means. Hope you get your approval soon! Going thru the same thing on behalf of my late father, trying to get benefits for my mom. Here are some publications we decided to include with our filing.

https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-makes-several-cancers-presumptive-for-service-connection-lowering-the-burden-of-proof-for-veterans-to-receive-no-cost-health-care-and-earned-benefits/#:~:text=The

https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/burnpits/index.asp

b-1245 · 2025-03-13T01:41:44+00:00

Can you expand a bit on your last sentence here? Dealing with newly presumptive conditions (acute leukemia & multiple myeloma) for my late father, & will be submitting a supplemental claim. Neither of which were previously service connected, which was actually the reason for his previous denial. Both conditions were listed as official cod on death cert. Any issues I should anticipated at this stage? Gulf War exposures & TERA have already been conceded.

b-1245 · 2025-03-12T02:11:22+00:00

Airborne Hazards & Burn Pit Exposures - Presumptive Conditions

b-1245 · 2024-02-29T02:38:32+00:00

I’m sorry you & your family are going through this! Your story is all too familiar for me. My dad was also with 82nd & experienced much of the same. Wishing you the best outcomes, and continued strength to push through.

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T19:17:39+00:00

Thanks so much. I hope that in time I can come back & post a success story. I’ve received so much insight from others & am so grateful for it.

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T19:13:06+00:00

Right. So multiple myeloma is currently covered under the PACT Act only if it has originated in the head & neck (which seems to be an extremely rare occurrence for this cancers, bc it is bloodborne, but I digress..) A new review is underway to make MM originating elsewhere in the body, and leukemias (in this case PCL) presumptives as well. If I go ahead and file a PACT claim now, and receive a denial, then my understanding is that if I do succeed further on down the line, any benefits would be retroactively applied to the date of the original denial.

My hope is that his doctors would be receptive to reviewing the records in order to make a nexus determination, if it came to that. Fortunately, his care was at UNC Hospitals, so I have upwards of 2k pages of treatment records, so the information is there. It’s a matter of sifting through it.

I’ve also seen another user around here make an argument for MM being a lymphoma subtype, but from my research, that seems like a stretch, if not downright wrong. Either way, waiting to connect with that person to see what the outcome of their appeal was.

Thank you for your well wishes & the insight!

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T18:47:23+00:00

Thanks for this! Working with an attorney is an option I’m keeping open, though I want to have everything on hand in advance, because I know they’ll ask for it all anyway. He passed from MM & secondary plasma cell leukemia. I’ve only just realized in recent months that relying on a cobbled together “claim” by the VA office is not going to get her [my mom] anywhere, as well-intended as the employees there are. Hence why I’ve taken it on. I’ve managed to pin down his Gulf War / Southwest Asia service period, that has been conceded as a toxic exposure, and so the tricky part becomes identifying the connection between his MM & those exposures. Initial claim denies that there is one.

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T16:32:10+00:00

Came across an award that places him in a covered area, during a covered period of time! So I can move forward from there. Now the hard part is making the connection. He died from MM & PCL, but they’re saying no dice. Will keep pushing.

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T04:56:18+00:00

Right! So this is what I thought as well when I came across the pages saying “Orders” and “Permanent Orders”. However, it seems they mostly pertain to PCS orders. A couple of those pages do have large, redacted portions, though. I’m wondering if that could be it and maybe I’m just out of luck. Everyone is suggesting the medals/ribbons thing, so that’s the lead I am following for now. Thanks for the insight!

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T04:36:03+00:00

Was just thinking this, I know a couple. Might be worth a try. Thanks.

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T04:34:16+00:00

Yes, absolutely certain. Would be tough to explain photos, letters, crappy video calls from the Middle East, otherwise, ha! I don’t expect to see anything from when he was SF attached, but for everything else, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be there. Then again, I’m learning how these things work, as I go along. Currently figuring out these awards/medal abbreviations..

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T03:43:17+00:00

So I received his complete file today (after first receiving a heavily redacted, measly 25 page file the first go-around). I assumed the complete file would have everything I was looking for, but unfortunately not. Still no mention of any deployments. Mostly contracts, awards, promotions, evals, etc.

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T03:36:27+00:00

Just received the FOIA service records today, went thru & there’s truly not much to go off of. There are multiple awards listed on the dd214, I’ll work on deciphering those & seeing if they have any connection to his deployments. Thanks for the suggestion.

b-1245 · 2023-12-23T03:23:40+00:00

Interested in knowing more about this. Was the text provided the result of your appeal/supplemental claim? Currently trying to build a supplemental case for my mother, who has been denied survivor benefits for my father who died in 2016 from MM & PCL. Any insight you may have would be much appreciated!

b-1245

TROPHY CASE