In 1963, Dr. Thomas Starzl performed the first five liver transplants. 

One patient bled to death on the operating table. The other four died within days. As a result, the operation was considered too dangerous to be performed on humans and liver transplantation was suspended worldwide for the next four years. 

It wasn't exactly an auspicious start for a surgery that has saved countless lives. 

Progress doesn't happen overnight and setbacks are all but inevitable. Sometimes, it can make you feel like Sisiphus, endlessly pushing the same boulder on the same hill. 

But where we would be if doctor Starzl hadn't persevered to perfect the liver transplant, if he had let the setbacks win? 

As tempting as it can be to throw in the towel, sometimes you have to take the obstacles as they come and find a new path forward.