Nearly 400 years ago, the Austrian city of Innsbruck had a celebrity, but not the way

you might imagine.

We know about him from a leaflet printed in 1620, with its tiny text and stark black and

white woodcut image, and it's not a pretty sight.

This man, Wolfgang Gashader, had apparently been a healthy normal middle aged carpenter

in 1604, but then Illness took all of that away.

It began with a headache before moving onto his limbs, soon he was completely paralyzed,

unable to do anything other than move his eyes and tongue.

The image shows us an emaciated man, naked and twisted upon a small bed.

His ribs are like the keys of a piano, his limbs are bone thin, and his eyes are sunken

deep in his skull.

But he's alive, and according to the heading above him, he was the symbol and landmark

of the city, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

I know.

The additional headline makes it more clear.

It was the 17th century version of Yolo.

Have your life, it says, the way you wish you had lived it when you were dying.

The man's withering form was meant to serve as an example to the entire city that life

was fleeting, which is why the man's bed was placed outside a local church, so parishioners

could see him as they entered.

Our health is a tenuous thing.

It's clear from the stories like that of Wolfgang Gashader that when we least expect it, life

...