Misunderstanding Medicine… Lynn’s Legacy and Her Final Wish

PART 2 ARTICLE 1 AUDIO FILE IN FOOTER

In 1999, my friend Lynn was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a diagnosis that turned her world upside down. Yet, Lynn, with her iron will and determination, faced this illness just as she had faced life: head-on. She embodied a strong, unwavering personality and was always in control — a true force of nature. Observing her through our friendship, I was always learning from her.

Lynn saw herself as the helper.  Even while facing a life-threatening illness, she was a reluctant helpee. It was both a shock and an honor when she asked me to accompany her on her own cancer journey. Despite her iron will, even she needed someone by her side through this fight. But true to her nature, Lynn was determined to turn her own nightmare into something positive for others — through me. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Lynn wasn’t the type to rush to a doctor for every little symptom. In fact, she avoided the medical system whenever possible.  But, when she first noticed her symptoms — fatigue and abdominal fullness, her doctors offered a range of diagnoses, including viral illness, PMS and irritable bowel syndrome. Yet, none of these explained her worsening condition. This medical uncertainty, coupled with dismissive attitudes suggesting her symptoms were “all in her head,” was frustratingly familiar for Lynn. Sadly, she isn’t alone— many patients, especially women, often face dismissal when their conditions defy straightforward diagnoses. This experience can erode trust in the medical system and leave patients feeling invalidated.

Months passed before Lynn was finally diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. By then, the cancer had progressed, and despite the grueling rounds of chemotherapy, she saw little improvement. When she questioned her chances and explored complementary therapies, her concerns were often met with responses that pressured her to “keep going” for the sake of her three children. Unfortunately, in the Western medicine model, the primary focus remains on attacking the physical disease, sometimes to the detriment of the patient’s holistic well-being.

Over the course of her treatment, I watched as Lynn’s most defining trait — her self-assured, powerful spirit — slowly withered. A few weeks before her death, Lynn told me that if her illness and death could spark a change in the way medicine was practiced, it would have been worthwhile. That was her final wish. Though she offered no specifics, she made it clear that this mission should guide my medical career. Who was I to say no?

Through Lynn’s journey, I saw firsthand what I knew from the very first moment of my medical training. Though there is an admirable dedication to extending life, it is often at the expense of overlooking the person inside. While we’ve achieved remarkable breakthroughs in cancer treatments, something vital is often neglected: genuinely seeing, hearing, and supporting the patient’s emotional and spiritual needs.

Lynn’s determination to reshape this approach became her final wish, and she entrusted me with her legacy: to bring awareness to these shortcomings in medicine.

The Shortcomings of Western Medicine

Western medicine has traditionally emphasized what is visible, tangible, and measurable. Practitioners often possess strong left-brain skills: they are logical, analytical, objective, scientifically minded, concrete, unemotional, detail-oriented, and predominantly male — qualities that have aligned well with the demands of the traditional medical profession. In contrast, right-brained individuals are imaginative, intuitive, and holistic thinkers, often demonstrating greater emotional intelligence and creativity. They tend to appreciate a broader perspective, including spirituality and the validity of things beyond empirical measurement, and are more often female.

While the left-brain approach to medicine is essential, it can sometimes limit the understanding of deeper, less tangible aspects of patient well-being, overlooking “right-brain” qualities like intuition, creativity, and emotional insight. Albert Einstein, known for his logical brilliance, famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” His unusually large corpus callosum — the connection between the brain’s hemispheres—allowed a unique balance between logic and creativity. He understood that true genius — and perhaps true healing—lies in engaging both sides of the mind.

Although I had enough left-brain skills to make it through medical school and training, my own career as a physician was shaped by an intuitive, “right-brain” inclination to view patients as whole people, not just diagnoses. Chronic pain, anxiety, and other unexplainable symptoms often originate in the subconscious, areas that Western medicine struggles to address meaningfully. Dismissing these symptoms as “all in your head” or assuming that the patient is just looking for drugs, fractures trust in the medical system.

Transforming the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Patients long to be seen as whole individuals. Healing often requires much more than physical treatment; it involves a supportive, open-minded relationship between doctor and patient. If physicians could embrace a bit of humility, acknowledging that some conditions stem from places science hasn’t fully mapped, it could transform the doctor-patient relationship. Being more open to validation of the patient, complementary therapies, and simple empathy could help restore trust and allow for healing beyond the limitations of Western medicine.

Lynn’s Legacy and the Iceberg Metaphor

Over time, I’ve come to view human health as an iceberg. What we see — the physical body and conscious mind above the waterline — is just a small part of our entire being. Usually this is the only part of us that doctors see or are able to treat.

However, beneath the surface lies a vast, unseen realm: our subconscious, filled with everything that we have ever experienced in our lives including emotions, memories, traumas, and moments of joy, to name a few. All of this also  shapes our physical and mental health. True healing requires us to dive into these depths, accessing what lies below the surface.

My time with Lynn brought me to this understanding. Although she was never fully cured, she reached a profound level of peace and healing that mattered most to her. This experience inspired my career, as she wished, to write Lynn’s Legacy, teach mind-body medicine and meditation and work as a hospice physician.  In retirement I am honored to support others facing terminal illness and continue to write.

My current project is to write Swimming Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg: Healing Beyond Western Medicine, a simple guide for those seeking to access the mind’s hidden capacities for health and a more peaceful, purpose driven life.   

As I share this journey on christajohnsonmd.com, I wonder if I am getting closer to making Lynn’s final wish come true. 

I imagine her answering with that familiar, wry smile: “It’s a good start, Chris, but you’re no spring chicken, so chop, chop, get crackin’!”

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