Portraits of perseverance
Portraits of perseverance are real life stories of individuals who became disabled and with courage and determination fought through recovery to reclaim their lives and employment.
Featured claimant
Claimant perseveres to regain his career after disabling accident
A 49-year-old, male, concrete worker fought back from crippling injuries to reclaim his life.
His life and limbs were shattered while on his way home from a 15-hour workday. Riding on his new motorcycle he was struck by a drunk driver in a stolen car. The accident left his right leg nearly severed and his left leg severely crushed.
He endured 12 surgeries and had multiple bolts, wires and plates inserted in both legs. For nearly 18 months, he was confined to a wheelchair and unable to put any weight on his legs. When the bolts were taken out of his legs, he contracted a serious infection and needed intravenous antibiotics to beat the infection.
Claimant stories
Hard work and determination - special education teacher returns to work from disability -
A 55-year-old, female was unable to work full-time due to a shoulder injury. Her motivation was simple: She was determined to prove her doctors wrong. She tore the muscles in her shoulder initially when she fell out of a tree when she was 12 years old. As the years went on, she re-aggravated it numerous times. The final breaking point came when she opened a heavy door in 2004. A thorough examination revealed that her shoulder had healed improperly after the first injury and had never strengthened. This caused her to have impingement syndrome, which affects the muscles in the rotator cuff, causing pain when she held items or applied any pressure. A substitute took over her everyday workload. She could not write for two months, so she supervised the substitute and took notes on a recording device that was provided to her by Assurant Employee Benefits.
Today, she is back to work full time, without a substitute, and continues to exercise her shoulder to get it stronger than ever.
Courageous comeback - claimant reclaims his life after serious head injuries from accident
A 32-year old male could not work after he experienced a life-altering moped accident that caused serious head injuries and forced him into a month-long coma. Without any hope of full recovery and plans underway to send him to an assisted living program, he slowly began to regain consciousness. A couple of weeks later he returned home and started therapy. During his time on disability, he credits his claims representative from Assurant Employee Benefits for providing vital support to his recovery and rehabilitation.