I do not write to lay a guilt trip on anyone, but I warn you this is a commercial. I speak not as a paid salesman but as a satisfied customer. My testimony is that regular exercise has paid significant benefits in my life.
This August 12, 2010, marks ten years of exercising three times a week at Pulmonary Rehabilitation at St. John’s Regional Medical Center. Because it is a priority to me I seldom miss. This exercise program has made a vital contribution in extending and enriching my life.
In 2000 doctors diagnosed me with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a terminal lung disease. Regular exercise contributed to my being able to live long enough to receive a double lung transplant in 2004. My doctors told me that good muscle tone in my body would make the transplant more successful and enable my body to more efficiently utilize the oxygen it receives. Not only did exercise help me live long enough to receive new lungs, it has contributed to my generally strong health these past six years.
Medicine can only do so much. Exercise is something we can do for ourselves. Barbara, my wife, had breast cancer five years ago. She underwent surgery and chemo therapy. She has chosen to work on eating healthy and walking regularly as her approach to try to prevent reoccurrence. She walks two miles four or five times a week. I did not walk as a part of my regular exercise routine taking about an hour. But Barbara convinced me to add thirty minutes of walking and do it on the days I didn’t go to rehab.
The benefits of exercise to physical health does not tell the whole story. Barbara and I thank God that we have been able to continue to have a part in our children and grandchildren’s lives. Though retired we are happy to be serving God and others.