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ITV News Reporter Ellie Pitt was given exclusive access to film an unprecedented and extraordinary life-saving operation involving teams of top surgeons from four leading hospitals <\/p>\n
Warning: This report contains details and images of surgery <\/p>\n
Brandon Lee has been living with a cancerous tumour in his neck for over a year. <\/p>\n
The 26-year-old, from London, has a hereditary condition called multiple exostoses syndrome (HME), which causes usually benign lumps near his joints. <\/p>\n
When he felt a small bump on his shoulder two years ago, he thought it was another caused by HME, but it continued to grow in size. <\/p>\n
Soon it had grown from his shoulder blade, over his shoulder, around his collar bone and into the root of his neck. It was steadily getting closer to his windpipe, threatening to restrict his breathing. <\/p>\n
After a series of tests, his doctor diagnosed him with cancer.<\/p>\n
Brandon Lee, 26, has been living with a cancerous tumour in his neck for over a year. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n
Professor Vin Paleri, a consultant head and neck surgeon at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, told ITV News: “This particular tumour does not respond to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. It needs radical surgery.” <\/p>\n
The surgery required four teams from three hospitals across the country to come together, for what they say was a once-in-a-decade operation. <\/p>\n
Removing the tumour required experts specialising in bone, head and neck, vascular, and plastic reconstructive surgery.<\/p>\n
ITV News has been given, with Mr Lee’s consent, exclusive access to the surgery and recovery.<\/p>\n
A standard operation will usually need seven to eight members of staff to be in theatre, but there were more than 20 in the room during Mr Lee’s procedure. <\/p>\n
The surgery required four teams from three hospitals across the country to come together. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n
The stakes were high, and the implications for Mr Lee were life-changing. <\/p>\n
If, while trying to extract the tumour, a surgeon accidentally damaged his windpipe, his breathing, swallowing and vocal cords could have all been affected. <\/p>\n
If a blood vessel had been cut he could have lost litres of blood. If the artery to the brain had been struck he could have had a stroke. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s one of the riskiest operations we will do because\u2026things can go wrong quite drastically, quite rapidly\u2026we have to be alert,\u201d Prof Paleri said.<\/p>\n