BALTIMORE, MD. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - Doctors told an 88-year-old man he was too old for back surgery and would have to live with severe pain for the rest of his life. Now he's defying the odds and inspiring hope for elderly care.

Larry Craver, 88, always loved helping family.

"He would do anything and could fix anything. Just very energetic," said Larry's wife, Mary Craver.

But as he aged that energy changed to debilitating back pain.

"If I'm in great pain, I cannot think. I certainly can't help other people," said Larry.

The pain was so severe that it became unbearable to walk. Doctors told him 88 was too old for surgery.

"They were just saying that this was permanent. No doctor thought that you could survive surgery. He told me with the severe pain he didn't want to go on living and that was really very hard for me to hear," said Mary.

Then finally, a break came when a neurosurgeon was willing to consider a patient his age.

"We got to meet him and was certainly not a frail 88-year-old," said Dr. Timothy J. Chryssikos, a neurosurgeon at Univ. of Maryland Medical Center.

X-rays showed scoliosis, a cyst on his spine, and a condition called spondylolisthesis where a vertebra slips out of place.

"I suspected that these were not the main drivers of his symptoms," said Dr. Chryssikos.

So, he opted for a standard decompression using an operating microscope instead of a high-risk spinal fusion open back surgery.

"Essentially our goals of surgery were to remove bone and ligament from the back that were contributing to this severe pinching of the nerve roots," said Dr. Chryssikos.

Six months later, Craver is not only walking pain-free. He's doing push-ups off his bedroom dresser.

"Doing stuff he did not have the ability to do for years. He's got a new lease on life," said Mary.

Open spine surgeries like the one doctors performed on Larry Craver have slightly larger incisions than minimally invasive surgeries but are considered less painful and have faster recovery times than spinal fusions. That's because the technique involves making smaller incisions that typically cause less damage to surrounding muscles. Larry is already working toward his new goal of swimming. He and his family planned a beach trip with lots of snorkeling for his birthday.