We are all here for different reasons, to learn different lessons and grow. In my opinion, one of the great secrets to life is figuring out your big lesson, so you can learn it and move forward. Until we truly learn and evolve, we can get stuck learning the same lesson for years, decades, or even lifetimes. 
As I prepare to be a mother and create a new life on this planet, my father has become extremely ill as the shadow of life has swooped down upon him. My father has always been one of the strongest people I have ever known. He's extremely head strong, determined, driven and stubborn as a bull. I exhibit many of his similar qualities and many times we butted heads. My father in many ways has been a hero in my life. He is one of the most generous people you'd ever meet and can be absolutely hilarious. To watch one of your heroes grow sick and weak is extremely difficult to endure.
You Have To Have Reverence For Your Body
In truth, my dad has never really been healthy. He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over 20 years ago, and 5 years ago he suffered from a triple bypass. For the last 3 years he's been on dialysis for kidney failure and most recently has been suffering from severe gangrene. Gangrene is a disease where your blood flow stops and your appendages turn black and die, leaving you no choice but to remove the dead tissue so that it doesn't spread.
Within the last 5 months my father has had to have his toes, fingers, foot, leg and now his hand amputated. It is so hard to watch someone you care about suffer so much. Even harder is watching my mother take care of him, witnessing her husband wither away; it's outright painful. 
My father never took care of his health. Most of his life he never touched a single vegetable, because he hated vegetables more than anything. I do hold the belief that had he tried a raw plant-based treatment like Gerson Therapy (drinking raw vegetables ) he could have reversed some of his tragic health issues, but that was not his path.
From here, it seems that one of my father's lessons in life is to learn reverence for your body. His poor body is dying, yet he doesn't want to go. So, he sits in a broken, decaying body fighting to live without a leg or arm and wanting so desperately to get better... so that he can hopefully see his new Grandson and be there for his wife and family. In some ways he's still my hero for that. It takes so much strength to live in his condition. Now I should add that my father doesn't believe in after life, or past lives, or anything beyond this mortal coil, so he's fighting very hard to hang on because he thinks this is it. I will always love my father and he will continue to be an inspiration and a hero in my life.
We Are All Learning Lessons 
We all have lessons, and some of them are much harder than others. But, if we meditate we can overcome the struggles and learn we can evolve and we no longer have to live these painful lessons.
I wish you all the best with each and every one of your daily lessons and life journeys. Just remember to trust that we are all learning, evolving and growing on this Earth school.