YOUR LEGS OR YOUR LIFE?

Book excerpt: Jim Meehan a retired British Positive Psychologist and published poet was diaignosed at the age of fifty-three to be suffering from Type II diabetes. He was a keen mountain walker, having scaled all the highest peaks in the British Isles, many peaks in the Spanish Pyrenees, the Alps, the Italian Dolomites, the United States and Canadian Rockies, an enthusiastic cyclist who rode 105 miles in a day through Death Valley, California at the age of sixty-two, and at the age of seventy ran the Chicago marathon. However, his health took a turn for the worse when due to the complications of Type II diabetes, poor blood circulation and sepsis his left leg was amputated below his knee six months prior to his eightieth birthday and seven months after his eightieth birthday had his right leg amputated below the knee in April 2023. During his recovery he wrote Your Legs Or Your Life? about his health and fitness story prior to and following his amputations in order to help others, both amputees and full-bodied adults alike, to benefit about learning from his experiences and coping strategies and enable them, to some extent, live a fuller, happier and healthier life. All proceeds from the sales of this book will be donated to the United Kingdom Limbless Association whose vision is ‘no amputee need cope alone.’