He Never Thought He Would End Up Sick Like This

“I wish it could all go to hell!”

My dad yelled it while we were driving past a tobacco field.

He was very sick by then.

Years earlier, he had been diagnosed with cancer.

Before that came emphysema.

Then oxygen tanks.

Then struggling just to breathe.

My dad had quit smoking more than twenty years earlier.

But the damage had already been done.

Eventually he depended on oxygen full-time.

There were backup tanks throughout the house in case the power failed.

Simple things became difficult.

Getting out of a chair.

Walking across the room.

Going upstairs.

What hurt him most was not being able to play with his grandchildren anymore.

That part really stayed with me.

Eventually my parents replaced the couch downstairs with a hospital bed.

Hospice nurses started visiting the house.

One day my mother heard him gasping for air.

She ran into the room yelling:

“Breathe, Paul! BREATHE!”

Moments later, he was gone.

The strange thing is…

my dad had once been an All-American football player.

Strong.

Athletic.

Healthy.

Like most people, he never imagined he would someday become sick and disabled.

Watching all of this changed how I think about health.

Because getting older eventually catches up with everybody.

The real question is:

What are we doing now to improve the odds later?