Might we measure our life by asking what handicaps we’ve faced and how we’ve moved ahead.
As CBC radio broadcaster Michael Enright reviewed the life of Dr. Vera Peters recently, I marvelled at how many challenges she overcame.
In the 1930s, when she graduated from medical school, women were not accepted as scientists. However, she moved ahead with persistent resolve, doing research on patients with Hodgkin’s disease.
Until her time, those afflicted had to accept the diagnosis that their condition was incurable. However, Peters found a treatment that made the condition manageable.
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Members of the Hodgkin’s Society turned their back on her work because they did not want to share the spotlight with her. It was other practitioners who saw the positive results she offered and made certain their patients’ lives were changed for the better.
She next worked with women who had breast cancer.
The practice till then was for doctors to anesthetize patients for a biopsy, and if the biopsy was deemed to be malignant, they immediately performed a radical mastectomy, without the patient’s consent. Not only was this procedure presumptive on the part of the doctor, but it was also horribly disfiguring.
Peters believed it to be excessive and suggested lumpectomies instead.
Then, with meticulous research, and without the use of computers, she compared the survival rate of those with lumpectomies and those with radical breast removal and concluded that the lesser surgery was preferable.
She also insisted on working in close consultation with her patients throughout the process.
Peters was a conservative, gentle person who sought to overcome what others thought were insurmountable challenges. With dogged determination and ingenuity, she did what she felt called to do.
We may at times want to surrender in the face of challenge. But what a blessing when we find opportunity to work toward what lies beyond.
