ST. LOUIS – A Southern Illinois veteran one step away from homelessness describes it as ‘an amazing course of events’. He and his wife were getting nowhere fighting for much-needed benefits from Veterans Affairs until they contacted 5 on Your Side’s Mike Rush.
Mike first introduced you to Richard and Tina McCulloch from Marion County in November.
Richard lost part of his leg to diabetes. The VA said it had no record of a disability claim they’d been waiting more than a year for.
Mike turned up the heat on the VA, and now the McCullochs are able to turn on their heat.
“I have it on 61,” said Tina McCulloch, looking at the thermostat in their modest home in the small town of Odin, Illinois.
It’s still chilly by some standards, but better than off.
“We can actually turn the heat on without worrying about it so much,” she said.
When Mike Rush first met the McCullochs, they were sitting in the dark to save on electricity and burning wood to stay warm.
“I was threatening to burn Peggy if things got any worse,” joked Tina.
Mike asked Richard, “Peggy is?”
With a smile, Richard responded, “Is my leg. Peg. My peg leg, yeah.”
The leg inspired Richard to take pirate pictures after his amputation, but don’t let their good attitude fool you.
“We had came to the end of our rope,” said Tina. “We just couldn’t go any farther without being homeless.”
The VA had apparently lost a disability claim they filed more than a year ago. They couldn’t get action, so 5 on Your Side made some calls.
“They became our new best friends,” said Richard.
Tina said, “The people just came out of the woodwork to help us.”
“A week of frantic activity,” said Richard.
“We were getting phone calls and people were stopping by,” said Tina.
Richard said, “It was a very amazing process.”
Tina said, “They got the claim approved.”
Not only does the claim mean the family now gets monthly payments, but nearly $10,000 in retro-pay.
“It just kind of took a load off of us and allowed us to just kind of enjoy ourselves and relax a little bit,” said Tina.
Richard even got a couple of letters from our viewers.
He read from one letter that said, “We wanted to send along this check to help you get through the lag time.”
The viewers also appreciated his attitude, writing “and we are very happy that Peggy is so supportive. She sounds like a stand-up type of gal.”
The Vietnam Navy veteran is grateful for the help but can’t help but think, “If this happened to me, how many other veterans are in the same boat?”
He says this show of good faith in his case makes him feel hopeful that real reform is coming to Veterans Affairs.
The VA has even committed to looking into McCulloch’s other denied benefits, one of which dates back to 2007.
