Forty years in a body shop, painting, smoking cigars and cigarettes has taken its toll on me. In 1997, I went to a walk-in clinic in Florida because I was having so much trouble breathing. The doctor told me to walk 30 to 40 feet a couple of times. I had such a hard time breathing that the doctor got right on the phone and ordered oxygen to be sent to my house. From that point on, I’ve been on oxygen.

The doctor wanted me to go to Covenant for bypass heart surgery and the hospital refused to do it. I was in the heart clinic one day when a nurse was working but was having trouble staying there because she was feeling so bad. She said, “If I make it through the day, I’m going to Milford to see Dr. Link.” I saw her a week or two later and she was getting around pretty good. I asked her how she was doing it. She said that she thought she was getting better because of Dr. Link, and she was trying to get her husband to go see him too. Then my wife started seeing Dr. Link. She asked me to go with her one day. You know how it is; your wife usually has got you hooked. So you follow. Thank God that I did. Since I’ve started seeing Dr. Link, I feel better than I ever thought I would. It was a good thing all the way around that I came to see Dr. Link. It can’t get much better. Seeing Dr. Link and mowing five acres has kept me out of the hospital and the medical doctor’s office. I can’t run a foot race, but I can get around pretty good. Which I think is good.

I went for an annual check-up and the doctor said, “Hey, your lungs are clear”. Everything seems better now than in the last 10 to 15 years.