Dale Free liked working the deli counter at a Woodstock grocery store but lost that job in 2003 after a blood disorder landed her in the hospital.

Rheumatoid arthritis in her hands and knees and complications from diabetes have made it impossible for her to work ever since, she said.

Andy Sharp / asharp@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Dale Free (left), with rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes, lives with sister Judy Crawford.

• Atlanta's disabled often wait years for aid • From employee of the year to living with a friend • Landscaper denied benefits now living with parents • Unable to work, Social Security has rejected benefits for woman Recent headlines: Judge gives homeless shelter more time to pay water bill  Carter writes new book on Middle East  Truck burns at shuttered restaurant     • Atlanta and Fulton County news

"I know I couldn't be on my legs for four to eight hours," said Free, who walks with a cane. "I'm all the time dropping things because I hurt."

Free also suffers from anxiety, she said. She has plenty to be anxious about.

Social Security has turned her down for disability benefits twice since 2004. Free has appealed and is waiting for a hearing date.

"There is not a human being who would look at this person and say that she is not disabled," said her attorney Ronald Lowry.

Meanwhile, Free lost her home after her husband of 28 years died from a stroke in 2005.

"We bought a mobile home and we thought we would be able to live in it comfortably for the rest of our lives," Free said. "It just didn't work out like that."

Her sister, Judy Crawford, took her in and buys her insulin and syringes. Free has no health insurance.

But Crawford can't afford Free's arthritis medicine. Or medicine to treat her high cholesterol and anxiety.

In fact, Crawford, too, is struggling financially. Her home is in foreclosure.

"She is trying to talk to the mortgage company so we won't have to move," Free said. "I do worry a lot and I cry a lot. But I wait until I am alone."