Everyone Deserves to Celebrate Life

“Survival is the celebration of choosing life over death. We know we’re going to die. We all die. But survival is saying: perhaps not today. In the sense, survivors don’t defeat death, they come to terms with it.” — Laurence Gonzales

On July 29, I go in for the last of the four operations that have restored my vision.

This journey started in February 2017 when two ophthalmologists told me three things:

1. I was going blind because of my keratoconus.

2. We could repair my sight with new techniques. It would take multiple surgeries on each eye.

3. My insurance would not pay for my medical treatment. Fully restoring my sight was not considered a medical necessity and was discretionary.

Being blessed, I had the resources to save my sight.

Over the last two years, I paid a ridiculous amount of money to see. Throw in a major back operation (because walking is also good), and a death-defying 5-day hospital stay during this same time frame just to keep it challenging. It has been a wild ride.

During this time, I retired and wrote six books. After this operation, I plan to write six more.

I dug a big hole in my and my spouse’s retirement funds, but I can see and walk. I shudder to think where I would be if I had not had enough resources.

It makes me unhappy to think of all the people going without the medical care they need. It is a horrific thought.

I will fight for health care for every single person as everyone is entitled to good health care. It will not be easy getting health care for everyone.