SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Seminole County woman called WFTV for help after she couldn't open a bank account or even upgrade her cell phone, because the Social Security Administration declared her dead.

The mix-up started when her husband died. Karen Paladino lives in Sanford with her two dogs, but according to the Social Security Administration, she is dead.

“I have been deceased since October 2008 and I was verified by a family member supposedly according to this paper,” Paladino said.

Paladino discovered the mistake when she went to the social security office in Sanford to apply for disability benefits.

“They said I was deceased I said, ‘No I am not, I am right here,” she explained.

Paladino's spent the last year submitting paper work, her birth certificate and marriage license to try to get the government to bring her back to life.

“Pronouncing me dead has spread like a disease over my whole life. It’s making me crazy,” she said.

She can’t open a bank account, can’t buy a new car or upgrade her cell phone because when the businesses enter her social security number into their system, she's listed as dead.

“I just don’t understand all the people I have talked to and they can’t fix it. It’s aggravating, it really is,” she said.

Paladino's husband died suddenly from a heart attack on October 1, 2008. That's the same date social security lists her as deceased and the only clue she has to how this problem may have started.

“My guess is somebody punched in something wrong,” Paladino said.

If that’s the case, the solution seems simple, but her year-long struggle through government red tape proves it’s not easy.

“I just want to be alive again. I just want to be brought back from the dead,” she said.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Social Security Administration Office told WFTV its working to fix the problem and figure out how it started in the first place.

They also agreed to call the bank and other companies who declined Paladino because of the mix-up.