There are so many people kept alive by modern medicine and living gracefully with their limitations. My mother was a case in point. She and my dad were both smokers. She had a major heart attack at 62. She was under the care of a cardiologist from then until her death at 91. She was able to give up smoking and lived a very healthy life from then until she died but the damage to her heart was done.

After my father's death from lung cancer two years after her heart attack, she figured out her finances, consulted with her cardiologist and became a world traveler. She helped my sister through the very difficult death of her own husband from lung cancer (never a smoker, no causes found or even suspected - he died at age 56) and 10 years later walked her down the aisle when my sister remarried. My mother knew, loved and helped take care of her grandchildren and got to know her great grandchildren. She worked part-time until she was 80.

She needed more doctor's care the last few years and yes, her quality of life steadily diminished then. But by that time, her doctors had enabled her to live life to the fullest for more than 20 years. The last 5 years of her life were a steady decline. She accepted her limitations with grace and made the most of every day. The last two years were hard but she was fortunate to have a mental alertness even through the pain medications and remain involved with her care and in her daughters' and grandchildren's lives. Assisted living at home (and the fact that my sister and I were close enough to help manage her finances and healthcare) allowed her stay in her own home until she died.

My last photo of her was at her 91st birthday party with her children, one of her grandchildren and some of her favorite cousins gathered round. She walked with pain, breathed with some difficulty, could hardly hear (even with hearing aids) but she still smiled gloriously and enjoyed what she could. I remember talking with her about the latest book she had read. She made the most of her life with all of its limitations and is my role model for how to enjoy life despite physical issues. BTW, the last book she read, the one we discussed, was Sonia Sotomayor's wonderful autobiography "My Beloved World" written soon after she became a Supreme Court justice. Sotomayor was diagnosed with diabetes as a child and has lived her entire life with doctors/medicine keeping her alive.

So yes, while I agree that living a healthy life may reduce your need to rely on doctors, relying on doctors isn't a death sentence. Living is a death sentence and we need to live it to the fullest with that in mind.