Warren is expected to make a full recovery after burning his eyes Monday while
pruning a toxic firestick plant in his garden, his spokesman, A. Larry Ross,
told Charisma Thursday.
Warren was
hospitalized Monday and released the following day after seeing an eye specialist. In a Twitter posting
Thursday, Warren said he was in excruciating pain.
“My eyes were severely burned by
a toxic poison,” he wrote. “Hospitalized Mon. Excruciating pain. Now home. Pray
my sight loss is restored.”
In a later message,
Warren said he was given protective contacts as bandages. “I am NOT blind. Thank you,” he wrote.
Ross said Warren, an
avid gardener, inadvertently wiped the
toxic sap of a firestick plant in his eyes when he removed his gloves briefly
to wipe his brow. The
exotic plant, which Ross said grows well in Southern
California, has pencil-thin branches and few leaves.
According to the
Garden Guides website,
it can cause skin irritation and
temporary blindness if it touches the skin or eyes.
Ross said the injury
is not expected to impact Warren’s public ministry because he has been on leave
from preaching to write the church’s fall curriculum on Christian service. But
he said it was unclear how long Warren’s recovery would take.
“He’s seeing well
enough to tweet today,” Ross said. “They expect a full recovery, but it will
take some time and he will be in pain.”
In another message Thursday, Warren thanked his Twitter followers for their prayers.
“Thank you for prayers for
my eyes,” Warren wrote. “Another doctor visit this p.m. May God use this pain
for His glory. Rom. 8:28.”
