Clinical Trial Participants Slay a Dragon on Easter Sunday

On a recent family ski-trip to Park City, I found myself partaking in a salsa eating contest. I don't know about you, but I find 'West Coasters' are far more disposed towards spicy foods, hot peppers - and yes, really hot salsa too. I did it for fun, I did it to please my kids...and hey, it was an event for charity. 
However, there is something you should know about me...I've got reflux so bad, that if my medication isn't in my belly within an hour of waking up, my day is going to be a rough one. On this day in particular, we'd abandoned our hotel room so quickly to hit the last remaining ski day before the snow was gone for the season, that I forgot to take my medication. Little did I know that this would turn out to be one of the worst days to miss my little purple pill!  To make a long blog short, I lost - and lost fast. In my defense, the winner was twice my size, had a mullet, a big beard and a black t-shirt that read "Heathen". I had no chance, and while I was daintily eating my habanero salsa with chips, he was drinking his straight from the bowl. 

It's a cute story, but you're probably wondering what this has to do with clinical research. Good question. So did my wife.

When that salsa eating contest ended, I was a hot sweaty mess. That wasn't the worst part...I was breathing fire...and I could feel the burn from my throat to my abdomen. I summoned my wife to run over to the hotel for my Reflux pill STAT! 
And while she was gone I sat with a huge jug of icy water, enjoying every sip, every gulp... I suddenly became extremely religious, literally thanking god out loud for creating water, ice...whatever...I was just so thankful to be extinguishing the fire.  Suddenly, my wife appeared with pill in hand, coming to my rescue...and I thought of even more people to thank for this relief. The people I speak of are all the participants that made this medication possible, not just on "Salsa Day"...but everyday. I truly couldn't imagine life without this medication...and to those who gave of themselves to get this medication to market...I say thank you...you truly helped slay a dragon on Easter Sunday...And to Mullet-Man, I say...next time buddy, you wont be so lucky the next time you face The Dragon.