I’ve Seen the End of You by Dr. Lee Warren
REVIEW BY PASTOR DOUG PRATT
What does a neurosurgeon say to a patient and family when the diagnosis from the lab is the deadliest form of brain cancer? How can a doctor balance candor with hope, especially when he or she knows there is an extremely small chance of survival? And how does that surgeon deal internally—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—as he repeatedly encounters suffering and death?
Dr. Lee Warren, an experienced physician and a committed Christian, pulls back the privacy curtain and allows us to meet some of his patients and families. In I’ve Seen the End of You, published in 2020, we follow them through the highs and lows as they face life’s most challenging ordeals. Warren is an expert in diagnosing and treating the nearly-always-terminal tumor called glioblastoma—which has a typical survival prognosis of less than 15 months.
Lee’s Christian upbringing led him to conclude that God was loving and kind, that good things would happen to good people, and that prayer would bring healing. His medical training taught him that his supreme goal and purpose was to extend the lives of his patients and, if possible, cure them. As a driven professional, he wrestled with feelings of failure whenever it seemed that cancer had won the battle.
Nearly every American family will, at some time through its generations, have to deal with cancer. Nearly every family will at some point have an encounter with a physician who delivers a bad diagnosis. How will we handle that test when it comes to us? What does our faith in Christ say to us as we confront serious illness? And what is going through the physician’s mind as he or she administers medical treatment?
In this remarkably, candid, medically insightful, and spiritually profound book, we experience a doctor’s inner journey to a mature and resilient faith. He grows in his understanding and compassion. His faith enables him to see life, suffering, death, hope, and eternity in a much broader context. He offers his own perspective on what C.S. Lewis called “the problem of pain.” – Pastor Doug Pratt
Lee Warren served for a year as a combat surgeon in Iraq, patching up wounded American soldiers (when possible) and trying to minister to their souls. He then worked in neuro-surgery in Auburn, Alabama for a number of years (the personal stories told in the book are from that time and place). He is now in private practice in Nebraska.
This is one of the most thoughtful and moving books I have read in years. It was chosen as our 2020 Summer Reading Challenge at First Church. Dr. Warren is booked to visit our church in February (Lord willing and travel conditions allowing). I am looking forward to meeting him and hearing more of his experiences and insights. I strongly urge you to read the book and make plans to hear him (either live in our sanctuary or by livestream video in your home).
Summer Read LIVE!
Monday • February 22
7PM | Sanctuary • Livestream
Come Meet the Author
