From the outside Dr. Thomas Blee was a successful surgeon who had it all together, but there was still something missing from his life.

As she had done countless times before, Tom’s sister suggested he give Jesus a try. His salvation didn’t lead to a picture perfect life and some of his toughest days on earth were still ahead of him.

Months later, Tom finds himself in the midst of a marital issues that culminated in an altercation that felt like a setup. As a result Tom found himself in jail. When Tom was released from jail and he had 20 minutes under police supervision to grab whatever he could from what was once his home; he would never return.

“My sister Amy said, ‘you’re coming to live with me.’ So we went and grabbed whatever we could.”

“The next day I had to go to work. I had to explain to them what happened and I was suspended. However, I have an amazing hospital full of amazing people that I work for. They said, ‘we know you, we know what’s happening, you can appeal the suspension.’”

Tom completed some paperwork and in 30 minutes, he was back at work.

“They were with me, we were checking in every day. It wasn’t from a medical risk standpoint. They wanted to know how I was really doing.”

Despite all that was going wrong, Tom says it was therapeutic for him to live with his sister and her family and learn from their example.

“That was the most amazing, cleansing time. When in trouble seek wise counsel, well I had one of the wisest counselors I could imagine and every day, we would work stuff out. You talk about not having anything else to do but strengthen your faith, I watched my sister read the Bible, I watched her pray big, and I mimicked things and I reached out.”

Read the rest of Tom’s story in his book,  .


Dr. Thomas Blee is the creator and co director of LIFEteam: a hospital based intervention program providing hope and healing for those wanting to undergo life transforming change.  As a trauma surgeon in the inner city Dr Blee was dismayed with the revolving door of violence and despair. Inspired to make a change he reached out to community leaders and organizations creating a coalition of resources that are brought into the hospital in order to create an environment of hope and healing for patients at a low point in their lives.

Key Scripture: Matthew 14:30-31

Saving a surgeon