I got my J Pouch at 29 and am now 51. I have also thought about the question raised by the OP. In my 22 years with the J pouch I haven't noticed any appreciable decline in function or continence. I do wonder about the future, but since I don't have a self-powered crystal ball it's only speculation. What I mainly wonder about is getting a cancer of some kind either in the rectal cuff or in the pouch, where I have had chronic inflammation for many years. I have also considered the possibility of losing the pouch and going to a permanent ileostomy as I get older. In the end I simply dismiss these thoughts from my head for there is no way of knowing what the answer will be. Maybe I will be hit and killed by a car at age 55 before any of these questions ever come to pass. This also occurred to me when I read the news about someone I knew in college who died in a car accident in Miami last week. At age 55. He was one of the 2 or 3 greatest soccer players in the history of my college and led the soccer team to the NCAA championship my freshman year. Life can be short and taken away in a moment!