At age 97, ‘it’s a joy to be alive’
“I never could have imagined living to be 97. I have no idea how it feels, really. I mean, I don’t know any different. I’m slower, yeah. I have a little trouble with short-term memory. But overall, my mind is still fairly good.
“I live by myself. I take care of the house. I do all the laundry and everything. I still go out back to my shop and piddle around a little bit. I guess I’m just blessed to have survived everything I’ve gone through in life. I survived the war. I survived a heart attack. I survived a broken hip. I survived cancer.
“I had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That was kind of an unusual thing. I got sick. They did tests. My wife and I were waiting on the report when the doctor came back. He said, ‘Well, Mr. Sneed, I hate to tell you this, but you’ve got cancer. It’s in your lymph nodes. If you take the treatments, you probably will live six months. But if you don’t take the treatments, you probably won’t live very long.’
“That wasn’t very good news. My wife started crying and I started crying. We cried a little longer, then got over it. I thought, well, if I’m going to die, I need to get things in order that need to be done. I was thinking about that and talking to her about it. Then, suddenly, just out of the blue, I said, ‘We’re not going to change anything, honey. We’re going to go ahead just like it is, and trust in the lord.’ So we did. And I’m still here.
“Isn’t that amazing? My life has been amazing. I was married 67 years. Our kids — four boys and two girls — are all still alive. I have grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a great-great grandchild. Sometimes I wonder, why me? Why have I been such a fortunate man? But then I think, well, I don’t really mean that, lord. I’ve been through so much, and I’ve been close to death so many times. I’m just glad to be here and glad that I can still do the things that I do. It’s a joy to be alive.”
— Fred Sneed
(Note: Fred Sneed passed away on Aug. 29, 2021.)
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