Race against time to save man's life as surgeon forced to stop transplant mid-op
Dan Robertson was 26 years old when blood tests revealed that his liver was in a very poor condition - despite not having any symptoms of organ failure.
He was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) - a chronic liver disease - and over the next decade, he began experiencing extreme fatigue and jaundice, turning his skin yellow.
By the time he hit 37, the dad-of-two faced the hardest wait of his life - to find a potential organ donor and see if the liver was viable enough to save him.
"I knew from the time I was diagnosed that it wasn't curable and my only fix was a transplant. I stopped working as a teacher as I was sleeping so many hours a day. I was desperate to feel normal," Dan told the Mirror.
Dan was diagnosed with chronic liver disease at the age of 26 and was put on the organ donor list a decade later (Channel 5)Dan was advised that even if the donor liver was a suitable match, surgeons would only have a small window of opportunity to get his own liver out and the replacement in. On Channel 5's new series Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death tonight, Dan undergoes the life-changing procedure at the University Hospitals Birmingham.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
"I felt surprisingly calm going into theatre," Dan, who has a 10-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, explained. "I had been waiting for so long and I'd mentally prepared myself for the transplant to happen one day. I had supreme confidence in Mr David Bartlett and the rest of his team. I had every faith they would do a good job."
Dan parts ways with his wife Kat, 32, and heads downstairs to be operated on - but nothing can prepare the surgical team for what is about to happen next. Specialist surgeon Mr Bartlett works against the clock to remove the old, diseased liver - but quickly realises he has a big problem.
The surgery has now gone past the point of no return, but a worrying lack of blood pressure means Dan's new liver could die. It's Mr Bartlett's worst-case scenario and he must act quickly to reattach the arteries again to get a better supply. Will he be able to figure out the problem and reperfuse the liver, before it's too late?
His op appears on Channel 5's new series Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death tonight, where surgeon David Bartlett is faced with a problem (Channel 5)The University Hospitals Birmingham is a centre of excellence, with the country's most skilled doctors changing and saving lives every day. Each episode of the new docuseries follows surgeons and their patients minute by minute to split-second decision-making in a fight against the constant risk to life.
As well as Dan's story, this week's ep sees a 17-year-old girl with an incredibly rare cancer of the soft palette, who needs complicated surgery to remove the cancerous tissue. While the cancer will ultimately kill her, the operation is so complex, that it may well do the same.
Before renowned Maxillofacial surgeon Sat Parmar can remove the tissue, he must navigate the complex maze of arteries carrying a major blood supply to the neck and throat which could at any point burst - causing a life-threatening bleed.
Across the hospital, Lindsey has arrived in the Emergency Department having been hit by a car. She has a nasty open fracture to her lower limb, requiring surgery. Surgeon Omer Alanie is in charge of restoring as much function to his patient's leg as possible but it's a complex task to try and give Lindsey back the chance to walk unaided once again.
Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death airs tonight, Thursday 27 July, on Channel 5 at 9pm.
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