A Border Patrol agent died in 2009. His widow is still fighting a backlogged US program for benefits

Hundreds of families of deceased and disabled officers are waiting years to learn whether they qualify for the life-changing payments.

The Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program is falling far short of its goal of deciding claims within one year .

Nearly 900 have been pending for longer than that, triple the number from five years earlier .

Justice Department officials, who oversee the program, acknowledge the backlog.

Nate Afolayan , 29 , fainted after his final training run in the high desert in New Mexico .

A forensic pathologist concluded the autopsy overlooked the “most significant factor”: Nate carried sickle cell trait, a condition that's usually benign but has been linked to rare exertion-related deaths in military, sports and law enforcement training.

The program had paid benefits for a handful of similar training deaths, dating to a Massachusetts officer in 1988 .

Lisa Afolayan appealed with help from a border patrol union.

The hearing officer denied her claim more than a year later , saying the “perfect storm” of factors causing the death didn't include a qualifying injury.

Four years passed without an update on the claim.