Its founder could never get sober himself and he finally died of alcoholism. Paddy was just too sick to make it. Slip followed slip, but he came back each time to carry A.A.'s message, at which he was amazingly successful. Time after time the group nursed him back to life. Then came the last bender, and that was it.
Relapses can occur.
This does not mean that the painful struggles of early recovery don't diminish. People do find freedom from homosexuality. Only thus can relapse be certainly avoided. If we only had Paddy's story we might assume alcoholism was a hopeless condition. But there are literally thousands of alcoholics who have recovered.