Galatians
6:9 And
let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do
not give up.
In 1982, internal-medicine
resident Barry Marshall was frustrated that there was no cure for his patients
who had ulcers. While studying a stomach biopsy, he saw organisms resembling
Campylobacter bacteria, which was first identified by his hospital’s
pathologist, Dr. Robin Warren. For the next year, Marshall and Warren studied
over 100 ulcer patients and found this bacteria in 87 percent of the cases.
Other leading specialists, however, insisted that the
bacteria developed after the specimens were removed from the patients. For
decades, clinical researchers had concluded that ulcers were based on weak
stomach linings. Marshall’s bacterial theory was snubbed.
Undaunted, Warren and Marshall continued to study
cultured bacteria and found that a combination of drugs destroyed it. Again,
their work and report was met with skepticism. Marshall reported study after
study, yet doctors refused to conduct clinical trials to substantiate his
findings. But finally, four years after his reports, trials were started and
confirmed Marshall’s bacterial theory and his treatment methods.
Today, stomach ulcers
and some cancers can be successfully treated because someone would not accept
no for an answer. Failure in people is caused more by a lack of determination
than a lack of talent. Keep on keeping on, friends.
