CLEVELAND -- Imagine you're dying, and with only months to live, your own government turns its back on you.

Chief Investigator Duane Pohlman couldn't sit by and let that happen. He did something about it.

Duane Pohlman: A little more than six months ago, John Hunter was full of life and happiness.

John Hunter: I noticed myself a little more clumsy, just awkward -- dropping things, having a tougher time using my silverware, picking up a pen.

Pohlman: His wife, Jonna, a nurse, noticed, too.

Jonna Hunter: I said "Something's wrong, let me look at your hand," and I looked at it and said "This just isn't normal."

Pohlman: Jonna took her husband to a doctor right away. After a litany of tests, doctors delivered the diagnosis.

John: I was told I have ALS, and my wife started to cry and I started to panic, I didn't know what it meant. She looked at me and said, "It's Lou Gehrig's disease," and that's when I just shut down and all I remember saying was that I wanted to go see my children.

Pohlman: Lou Gehirg's disease, a fast-moving killer.

Dr. Marc Winkleman: This is a disease that paralyzes the body from head to toe. There is no cure. It was a death sentence.

Jonna Hunter: We had this group of people around us praying that it would be cancer cause there was hope that they could cure it then.

John Hunter: My God! I forgot how difficult this was.

Pohlman: The disease soon took away John's ability to use his right hand. Simple tasks became impossible. He could no longer do his job, repairing and restoring old homes.

John's condition continued getting worse. His doctor recommended John apply for disability.

Pohlman: Is John Hunter disabled?

Winkleman: In my opinion, yes.

John Hunter: The idea of not being able to do what I've done, help support my family, do the work I've been doing for my company was not something I wanted to even face.

Pohlman: In August, John reluctantly filed the paperwork at the Medina Social Security office. He waited for what everyone assured him would be Social Security's stamp of approval.

Two months later, John got a letter, stating Social Security had determined that he was not entitled to disability.

Pohlman: Did you ever expect to read that?

John Hunter: Never in my wildest dreams.

The diagnosis alone of having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and what a person goes through should have been enough to make their decision.

Pohlman: In the letter, Social Security acknowledges John is "diagnosed with ALS" and that he has "some decreased use of your arms and hands."

But the letter continues "you are currently able to walk with a normal gait," and can "walk enough to complete a normal workday."

John Hunter: I cannot believe the feeling of a human being was put in to it.

Pohlman: We asked a human being from Social Security to explain the agency's decision.

Art Pate, Social Security Administration: An individual applying for a disability benefit has to meet certain criteria in order to be awarded that Social Security disability benefit.

Pohlman: Does your criteria take in to account that this man is dying from Lou Gehrig's disease and he isn't going to get better, that he's going to get worse each day?

Pate: We understand that the disease is progressive ... but at the time we made the decision, it hadn't progressed to the point to meet our criteria for disability under the Social Security law.

Pohlman: This case has a gentleman who is dying, who's going to be disabled even if your rules say he isn't, he is disabled and your agency has no way to deal with it. To me, that means your agency has lost its heart.

Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing here ... helping people?

Pate: Correct, we help many people. If they don't agree with the decisions we make, we give them an opportunity to appeal that decision.

Pohlman: The Hunters did appeal, and were told a new ruling would likely take months -- months for a man who now counts his life in days.

Why make it that difficult for a man who is dying? Why make it this difficult?

Pate: We're not making it that difficult strictly for him.

Rep. Sherrod Brown: This is clearly a case where the Social Security Administration needs to make a change in Washington so situations like his can be fixed

Pohlman: Congressman Sherrod Brown has been fighting for the Hunters. He agrees with me -- Social Security should change its rules so people diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease should never face what John Hunter and his family have.

Brown: I will write a letter to the White House. I will follow up with a call to the Social Security Administration. It's something we should do.

Pohlman: The pressure paid off. Three days after we talked with John Hunter, he got a call from Social Security his disability was finally approved.

John Hunter: I can now focus on my family and I can focus on my health.

Pohlman: But John Hunter isn't finished fighting.

John: I want to see changes made at the Social Security agency so that no one has to go through what we had to go through.

Pohlman: We won't stop fighting, either.

We've been in constant communication with U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown and both of our senators, Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, asking for a permanent change at Social Security.

If you agree, we've made it easy for you to do something.

Click here to fill out a form to offer your support.

Are the disability payments going to be enough for the Hunters to now make ends meet?

It will go a long way, but the short answer is "no."

There is a fund set up for the Hunter family.

If you're interested in making a cash donation, checks should be made payable to The John Hunter Fund C/O National City Bank, 6663 Center Road, Valley City, OH 44280.