Hi my name is Rachel, I have a question I'm seeing everything about spouses my fiance and I were not married we where together for years he file me as his dependent for years on his 1040 tax return we lived together, Tony developed stage 4 lung and brain cancer he had been in the Navy for 14 years he had a honor discharge from the Navy, from September 2010 up until February 2012 he was taking chemo and radiation treatments I was taking Tony to his doctors appt's 5 times a week, i was preparing his meals doing housekeeping changing his clothing giving Tony his baths his medications just making sure everything was safe and good for Tony, we traveled to Gainsville to the VA hospital a few times in the very end hospice came in half an hour a week to monitor his vitals and medication, I taking him down to the local VA office here in Jacksonville to try and get his benefits stared it we were paying $505 monthly for Cobra insurance for him we were not knowledge what was available to us through the VA and he was not mentally stable to tell me, the Social Security disability gave him 1408 monthly by the time we paid our rent which was a 1000 dollars and paid for his meds and also my meds it was stressful and really stressful watching him die, i would pay someone to sit n watch Tony to make sure everything was good with Tony until i got off work, I end up had to quit my job because he was getting worser and I did not trust anyone else to take care of him and he did not want to die in hospice, please note I'm not complaining at all I really enjoyed taking care of the love of my life I'm just wondering is there any resources out there for me due to now I'm nearly home less l'v been so depressed after his death ii have not found a job yet, I was told by several people that I may be entitled for some VA benefits. Thank you so much for this resource.
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Was he enrolled in VA Care at any point? You can file for disability benefits retroactively at this point, there is a bit of a backlog (even more so with the shutdown in progress atm). Was he disabled DUE TO his service? Have you contacted the Social Worker at the local clinic? The ones in Jax are really very nice if you can get them on the phone! (My dad is with the Gainesville VA as well, but we generally go to the St. Marys, GA outreach since we live in GA)
Can you give us any other info about your husband? Was he stationed overseas? Did he serve in any wars? Was he discharged or did he retire out of the military?
I'd love to be able to help you more, I've waded through SO MUCH with the VA and all its attendant b*llsh*t over the past 5 years, I know it can be difficult, painful and make you want to just give up, but they DO offer a lot of help to veterans and their families, its just about knowing what to ask and where to call to get answers!