Having only sneaked into the 2006 National Student Conference by virtue of my wife still being at medical school, I was greately encouraged by Mark Ashton's talks on Matthew - well at least by the two I managed to hear before leaving early to start a week of nights!

Only a couple of years later, Mark was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. This short but profound work was written in the final few months of his life, prior to his death in April 2010.

His confidence that the gospel is true pervades this book; but he's also honest about the struggles, both physical and practical. The changes in his priorities as life nears its end are sobering, and led me to reconsider what is really important. The resurrection reatures heavily, not only to encourage, but also to remind us to proclaim it powerfully inour words and actions.

I not only gained encouragement in my faith as I read, but also remembered that the perspective of dying patients for home I care may be very different from what I might expect. Thought mainly aimed at Christians who are terminally ill, and those who don't yet believe, I think that any doctor caring for dying patients will learn from this book whatever their beliefs.