I help run the Nine Lives Foundation, a charitable organisation that supplies rejuve treatment to those too poor to afford it. Not the human stuff though - I wish we had that sort of money - but the cheaper animal variant. It’s far from ideal and there are still only so many that we can treat, but it’s something.
Our charity's motto is ‘Everyone Deserves A Second Chance’, plus we don’t believe life extension should be reserved only for the super-rich.
Frank Donnely had been at the care home for fifteen years. He was their longest placed resident. He deserved a break. Most days the nurses would wheel him out onto the veranda wrapped in blankets, so he could sit with his one good eye facing the distant mountains.
I sat with him while we administered the treatment, the IV drip of rejuve serum slowly working its way into his veins.
“I always wanted to climb those mountains,” he said wistfully. “Never got around to it before my legs gave out.”
“When you’re feeling better, I’ll drive us out there and we’ll hike them together,” I smile.
And so, a week later, I did.