I was 67 years old and I could no longer walk,  having finally conceded after a 38 year struggle with ankylosing spondiliitis, a disease that causes the moving parts of your skeleton to become fused.  I had not given up without a fight.  Over the years I had undergone five joint replacement surgeries, three skin grafts, two hernia repairs, transplanted a piece of bone from my hip to my spinal column to strengthen a fractured and compressed vertebra, wore a halo traction for four months and twenty days (But who counted?), and endured various and sundry procedures and treatments recommended by my doctors.  My longest hospital stay was 91 days; my longest stay at a rehabilitaion center was 190 days.  And while all of this was going on, I managed to find time to get married, buy a home, earn a graduate degree, and start a business which I ran for 21 years.  Then my legs stopped working.