Jonna Carter: Regeneration

I read recently that one in 5,000 people now live to be 100. The Boston Globe profiled a new study called the SuperAgers Family Study. Dr. Sofiya Milman at Albert Einstein College of Medicine explained, “The goal is to amass the largest databank of super agers so we can begin to untangle the contribution of genetics to exceptional longevity.” Researchers believe genetic variants found in less than 5 percent of the population contribute to such longevity.

Much to which I've been a witness past a certain advanced age has been decline, often considerable. My father endured a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease before succumbing to it, and my mother's acute aortic dissection ought to have killed her nearly four years ago. She, however, refuses to succumb, to which I attribute her stubborn determination to endure at all costs.