When I was in my mid-twenties, I began to feel the way I thought it would feel like to be eighty. I went from Energizer Bunny levels of vigor to waking up tired after nine hours of sleep. I had a chronic urinary tract infection and, with one kidney, the urologist put me on a six-month low dose antibiotic regimen. All sorts of stomach woes and a near constant headache were happening, simultaneously. My loved ones were visibly concerned about me.

Sitting in the Radiation Oncology waiting room in the spring of 2012, I was grateful to have made it this far. My husband, Brian, was receiving an initial evaluation to begin the standard treatment protocol after brain tumor surgery. Several weeks earlier, our lives had taken a dramatic turn. In an instant, instead of leading my team at work, I was getting a fast track "PhD-level-education" in navigating the Western health care system.

In 1979, I received a coveted full scholarship to study for the summer at the San Francisco Ballet School. The placement class was three hours long, and in the first hour, at the barre, I did a grand battement (an energetic straight leg lift to the back) that ultimately changed the course of my life. Despite intense pain, I finished the class and nonchalantly approached the teachers, asking if they knew anything about low back pain.