The doctors told him he was terminally ill, but he did not accept this diagnosis in the customary manner. As much as he loved his family, and because he loved them, he decided to retreat to the depths of the Adirondack Mountains, where he would set up a primitive camp and survive as best as he could until the end.
Expecting physical decline, suffering and death, he was surprised by what actually happened. He learned something about life...and about death.