The last years of Kafka's life were associated with severe illness and numerous stays in sanatoriums. On this account, Kafka has often been described as sickly. However, as long as his health allowed, he exercised regularly, washed with cold water and generally tried to keep fit. In 1922, two years before his death, tuberculosis forced him to resign from the Workmen's Accident Insurance Company. Following his doctor’s advice, he went to the mountains to get some fresh air, says David Stecher, director of the Prague Literary House: