the death of Jack LaLanne — due to pneumonia

I was shocked to learn that Jack LaLanne has died at the age of 96.  I thought that he would live to be 100.  He died at home from “respiratory failure due to pneumonia.”  This is a common cause of death for old people.  My father, one of my grandfathers and my older brother all died of pneumonia.  In the old days, pneumonia was called “the old people’s friend” because it allowed an easy death.  Jack LaLanne was only sick for a week before he died.  That’s much better than dying a lingering death from cancer.

I have had pneumonia three times myself, but as you can deduce from the fact that I am posting this, I recovered each time.  I think that Jack might have decided that it was time for him to go, and he took the easy way out.  Like my grandfather, who turned his face to the wall, and died.  Turning your face to the wall to die is an old Irish tradition.

So how did I recover three times from pneumonia?  For one thing, I never went near a hospital. Neither did Jack LaLanne. My brother actually died from a staph infection after he went to the hospital for pneumonia.  My father also died in the hospital, although I don’t know if it was actually from an infection and not pneumonia.

I did go to a doctor each time that I had pneumonia. I took anti-biotics which cured me the first two times.  The third time, I also took anti-biotics but the third time, they didn’t work.  That’s when I turned to alternative medicine.  Garlic will cure everything except bullet wounds, so I started eating 15 cloves of raw garlic per day, and also taking some herbs.  I have since learned from my Chinese doctor that it is better to cook the garlic slightly in a little bit of oil because this brings out the active ingredient in the garlic.

But I digress.  Back to Jack LaLanne.  I was a big fan when he used to be on TV back in the sixties.  I remember that he showed a lot of exercises for old people, such as sitting in a chair to exercise and doing hand exercises.  At that time, I was young and strong and I couldn’t imagine being old and sitting in a chair to exercise.  I am glad now that I learned these exercises from Jack.  This helped me a lot to recover from a stroke.

Jack used to do face exercises.  After I had a stroke six months ago, I was left with one side of my face sagging.  The Western doctors told me that I would not recover from the damage to my face.  But after doing Jack’s face exercises for six months, both sides of my face are now the same.  Thanks, Jack.

I recall the time that I went to see Jack LaLanne in person at the local YMCA.  He was a few minutes late and when he arrived, he bounded onto the stage, but he looked angry.  Throughout his talk, he seemed to be angry.  I remember that he took a loaf of fluffy white bread and wadded it up into a little ball.  I never touched white bread again after that demonstration.  Thanks, Jack.

I also bought a juicer, although I didn’t buy the brand that Jack advertised on TV.  I haven’t used the juicer for awhile, but I’m going to get it out of the cabinet today.  Thanks, Jack.

P.S. I updated my Jan. 9th post about International Holocaust Remembrance Day which you can read here.