Losing Susan: Brain Disease, the Priest's Wife, and the God Who Gives and Takes Away - Hardcover

The Story of Brain Disease and the Priest's Wife This is the story of Susan--a wife, mother, Christian believer, lover of children, writer of stories, and woman of extraordinary intellect. Susan was diagnosed with a brain tumor in her late thirties. Although it was successfully treated, the process led to her slow, unending decline. In this personal story of love and loss, Victor Lee Austin shares how caring for his wife during her painful struggle with brain cancer and its aftereffects brought him face-to-face with his God and with his faith in unsettling ways. God gave Victor what his heart most desired--marriage to Susan--then God took away what he had given. Yet God never withdrew his presence. Weaving together autobiographical details and profound theological insights, this powerful narrative shows that we are called to turn to God in the face of suffering.

In this personal story of love and loss, seasoned pastor-theologian Victor Lee Austin shares how caring for his wife during her long struggle with brain cancer and its aftereffects brought him face-to-face with his God and with his faith in unsettling ways.

"In this painfully truthful book, Victor Lee Austin draws on the theological wisdom shaped by suffering and death to tell us the story of Susan's, his wife's, determination to live and love though suffering from a terminal disease of the brain. As her caregiver, he refuses to hide from himself or us how hard caring for her had been. When finished with the book, however, the reader cannot help but think: what a wonderful love story. Thank God."
--Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School; author of Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir

"An amazing book. Victor Austin has written a late-modern memoir, with the biblical God as a participant!"
--Robert W. Jenson, former senior scholar for research, Center of Theological Inquiry

"Victor Lee Austin breaks your heart without sentimentality, stretches your faith without clumsiness, brings you face-to-face with God without fear. By the end, you will know what it means to be precious, honored, and loved--by another and by God."
--Samuel Wells, vicar, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square

"This is a moving work, carefully crafted and thoughtfully honest. With lots of love and plenty of pain throughout, these pages bring to mind others who have written similarly, such as C. S. Lewis; however, Victor Austin's account of his and his family's experience in connection with his wife Susan's illness and death remains unique. I wish I had personally known Susan, and I am grateful to know Austin--and for his gift in writing."
--Tobias Winright, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University