Ruthann Pickerd thought her 2021 diagnosis of a rare autoimmune disease that forced her to retire from a 30-year nursing career was the worst news she would ever get.
If there was a silver lining to that situation, it was probably being able to spend more time with her husband of 27 years, John, a Vietnam vet, before he suddenly died in 2022.
Then the notice from the Social Security Administration (SSA) arrived in February 2024: the Social Security Disability payments the retired grandmother had been getting since her diagnosis stopped completely…