Is our health something we can control?

This past summer, after numerous failed attempts, I told myself I would finally lose weight. In the past, I would start out doing very well, then I would see that I had not made any progress so I would give up. This past summer I told myself that no matter what I would do all I could to lose weight. I was up to almost 270 pounds, eating a horrible diet, and was unable to do things I loved, like playing basketball, as well as I used to because I got tired very easily. At the end of summer, I had lost 40 pounds, but I was determined to keep going. I ended up losing 65 pounds before this trip, and I plan to keep going after the trip as well. But is my health completely in my control?
Even though I have lost all of this weight and I am living a much healthier lifestyle who is to say that I can't get sick with some kind of genetic illness, or even something totally out of the blue down the road like cancer? My point is that even though I am healthier now, there are some things you simply cannot control. Our health in general is not in our control because of these things. In Universal Health Care, John Goodman states that, "These differences are thought to reflect such lifestyle choices as diet, exercise, and smoking." (Goodman, pg. 128). These things are in our control. I was able to change my diet and exercise through willpower and the determination to keep going, and the same goes for the thousands of smokers who quit every year. However, he later states, "It makes far more sense to look at the diseases and conditions to which we know medical science can make a real difference-cancer, diabetes, and hypertension for example." (Goodman, pg. 129).
It makes sense that people who are against universal health care to look at the obese, drug, and alcohol addicted people, but like so many things, there is another side to the story that they are not telling. That side of the story is that unfortunate things can happen to anyone at any time and you can't only look t diet and exercise as your deciding factors. Even though I lost weight, there is no reason for me to say that I couldn't get sick at any time. I am not trying to bark up my own tree, I am just using myself as an example. In Gaudiem et Spes, it states, "If one is in extreme necessity, he has the right to procure for himself what he needs out of the riches of others" (Gaudium st Spes, Chapter 3, Section 2).
In the end, I do not think that our health is something that we can control completely because there are some things that happen out of nowhere that are out of our control. It is unfortunate but true. While our diet, exercise and bad habits are something that we can control, other things like cancer happen out of nowhere and we cannot help it. I think that no amount of exercise and grilled chicken can keep certain diseases away from you, and harm you in some way. While people who do exercise and eat well may not ever have anything happen to them, others are not so lucky.