i have wegeners granulomatosis vasculitis, r... - Vasculitis UK
i have wegeners granulomatosis vasculitis, renal failure and go to dialysis 3 times a week. does anybody claim incapacity benefit
I get dla & esa
My son, 15, has the same - we receive Disability Living Allowance for him
My husband also has WG, which resulted in end stage renal failure. He originally applied for DLA in 2009 with the help of the social worker at the dialysis unit but it was denied. Apparently kidney failure wasn't a disability!!! He was too ill at that time to fight an appeal. Just over a year ago we started home dialysis & went to our Q&A to reapply under the care element. The girl was useless, couldn't even spell dialysis & wasn't interested in WG. He received a call about a week later to say that as he was working he wouldn't probably get any benefits. By this time he was just working & sleeping, no energy for anything else. He also had developed severe osteoporosis & osteoarthritis and was frequently unable to go to work due to joint flare ups & fatigue. Our GP was so angry he was being treated so badly that he contacted them by phone & got him fast tracked on the terminally ill DLA form & he was awarded the mobility & high rate care allowance for 3 years. If you can get your GP & consultant to support you it will help with your claim. My husband received a transplant this year & his energy levels have improved greatly but he still has mobility issues & regularly attends the rheumatology clinic & physiotherapy. The award of DLA seems to vary & not everyone appears to get it, at least not without some kind of medical support or appeal, especially now with the government cut backs. I hope you are successful in your claim as having watched my husband in the same position as yourself, I know how difficult it is to get through every day without the added stress of financial worry. Good luck
thank you all for your replies, i receive dla and i work as a foster carer, the person i foster,. will be leaving soon i dont know if i want to foster after he leaves as most of the childeren can be very violent and i dont know if i could cope with the stress, but obviously i need money to survive, there are days when i just dont feel well and i cant imagine that going down very well if i had a normal job. apart from the fact that i spend most of my time at dialysis or hospital appointments.the thought of trying to get esa makes me feel ill as i believe it is very hard to get it. the trouble is also i look well from the outside but on the inside is a different matter. i find that if i do too much one day, the next day i pay for it by being knackered lol i also have a disease called alpha trypsin one deffficiency which is a very rare disease like vasculitis and this disease can effect your lungs and liver.
Get in touch with your local CAB,make an appointment to see an adviser or go to their sit and wait session, whichever system your local bureau runs, they are experts at submitting claims for all kinds of benefits. My husband is a volunteer adviser and most of his time is spent doing just that .At the same time, see your G.P. and explain that you are intending to claim ESA and ask for their support, get together all your medical evidence such as hospital letters, any reports and prescriptions, as much as you can,(before you go to your CAB apt if possible, to save time).You must have done something similar in the past to have been awarded DLA so you will know what to take.I don't think ESA is really any more difficult than DLA to get, as long as you provide the right evidence that you are unable to work due to health reasons.Unsure if fostering would be regarded as 'employment' as such, bit of a grey area really, that's why it would be best to take advice before submitting your form.Well done for managing to foster with all your problems, I found it difficult enough raising my own children suffering the same sort of condition, and constantly being in and out of hospital etc,I could only ever manage a few hours a week work as a part-time tutor and eventually had to give even that up, and only recently realised I would have been better off financially and health-wise had I known I could claim benefits, but no-one ever 'volunteered' the information and I never thought to ask!Good luck!
