All his life, Joseph Grunfeld defied the odds.

Born with a heart murmur, he’s had three back operations, suffered a stroke that left one arm entirely numb, and has mild to moderate rheumatoid arthritis. A harrowing mugging three years ago led to knee surgery, and he still has trouble walking.

But that didn’t stop the 62-year-old New Yorker from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro earlier this month — with the help of walking sticks and the company of about two dozen others, many of them physically challenged and yearning for inclusion.

And 25 out of 27 of them, including Grunfeld, made it to the top of Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano with an elevation of 19,341 feet.

“The team as a whole shows the world that anything is accessible together,” James Lassner, executive director of Friends of Access Israel (FAISR), tells The Post. Launched last year, the group arranged for 27 people, 18 of them from the New York metropolitan area, to climb the African mountain.

Lassner, a 55-year-old Upper East Sider, was one of them.

“Every day, people with disabilities face many personal mountains to climb, some visible but many hidden,” says Lassner, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving as a first responder at Ground Zero, where he incurred a knee injury that led to six surgeries.

“They are no different than anyone else as they have the same dreams, desires and hopes.”

Lassner began the trek up the mighty mountain in Tanzania with the group, but was forced to drop out on Day 2, a third of the way up, when he was overcome with an allergic reaction to malaria medication that sent his blood pressure plummeting.

But he couldn’t be prouder of his team, who hiked the Marangu route, also known as the Coca-Cola trail.

For the final ascent on Day 6, the group set out at midnight under a full moon to make the grueling 14-mile trek to reach the summit by sunrise. The temperature, with the wind chill, fell into the single digits.

Just six months ago, Grunfeld says, he never would have believed such a trek was possible. And although he says everyone in his life, including his four daughters, were “in total shock,” the Piermont, NY, resident decided he had to try.

Working with a personal trainer, he went through a customized 11-week training program that left him 20 pounds lighter. Though he battled altitude sickness, hallucinations and severe breathing problems throughout the arduous trek, he prevailed.

“It was all a blur, but I did it,” he says. “It’s all attitude. I was unbelievably inspired by the others with major injuries. These people are severely disabled, yet go out there and overcome great challenges . . .

“I paid a lot of doctors to tell me no,” he continues. “I usually listen to them, but not this time.”

Now, having climbed Kilimanjaro, “I can’t wait to send them a picture,” he says.

He’s already planning a hike up Machu Picchu, with his wife, Gina.

“I’m revved up,” he says.

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