University of Alabama Track Star Needed Long- Term Care Sixty Years Later

In 1949, while attending the University of Alabama, Robert went out for the track team—and he made the team, specializing in the high jump.  In those days they didn’t have the amenities like foam cushions to break the athletes’ falls when they cleared the bar.  It was either dirt or sawdust in which they landed.

One day, Robert sailed over the bar, but came down awkwardly, spraining his ankle badly.  He was out of action for a while, but after a convalescent period he resumed his athletic and other endeavors.  After graduation he married and went to work in the aero-space industry at NASA.

Over the years his ankle developed arthritis, and by the age of fifty he walked with a noticeable limp. With careful observation one could notice that his right ankle was larger than the other.  He could no longer run or hike for extended periods.  When his brother took up golf, he was invited to do the same, but refused because pivoting on his right foot in the golf backswing caused him too much pain.

He and his wife did a considerable amount of traveling in America in their automobile, but always had to stick close to motorized transportation due to Robert’s worsening ankle.  At age eighty, Robert was in excellent health—except for that darned ankle!  It wasn’t long before the ankle had swollen to twice normal size, and the doctors said that nothing could be done outside of amputation!

Well, there was no way Robert was going to let anyone cut off his foot so he endured the disability as best he could.  Soon, however, it became a chore to even walk and the reality of needing long term care set in.  His wife had to begin taking care of many daily activities he could no longer do.  She began serving him his meals in his recliner in their sun room, because he could barely get to the table.  She had to assist him in bathing, putting his pants on, doing yard work, going to the mailbox.  Soon he lost the ability to drive a car because he could not feel the gas pedal with his right foot, thus his wife had to drive him everywhere.  Those who knew her could see the strain that becoming a full time caretaker had become.  Increasingly she had to curtail many of her activities, as well as his.  They were becoming more homebound.  They had no children or other nearby relatives to help them.  And, you guessed it, they had no long term care insurance.

Robert’s situation worsened until he died at age 93 from pneumonia.  Though his wife was 88, she was in good physical condition for her age.  His death saddened her deeply, but relieved her of the constant care-taking duties.  She is now trying to re-orient herself to her new role, but is having difficulty doing so.  The tragedy of all this is that if they’d had long-term care insurance, both Robert and his wife’s lives would have been much more functional and comfortable.  Robert never had to be hospitalized except for the last week of his life, so long-term care could have provided transportation and home modification services that would have greatly improved their lives.

One thing Robert’s life teaches us is that disabling conditions are not necessarily confined to old people;  they can start at a young age and get silently worse over the years.  Robert’s ankle injury started in his early 20’s, and no one then ever imagined it would progress to the point it did, nor cause him the problems it did. But experience shows that many diseases and conditions can start young and cause considerable trouble later, such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, etc.   And these conditions produce functional limitations than can usually be addressed by long term-care insurance.