In the second programme of this three-part series we get a compelling insight into the professional lives of a few of Northern Ireland’s top neurosurgeons and witness the remarkable stories of the patients in their care.
The programme also provides unlimited access to
the drama of the operating theatre, offering viewers a fascinating,
no-holds barred glimpse of the inner workings of the
human brain.
Northern Ireland’s only specialist neurosurgical department
is based at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, where a team
of six neurosurgeons treat patients with serious debilitating and
often life threatening brain illnesses. Here, we meet neurosurgeons
Steve Cooke, Jabir Nagaria and David McAuley.
Steve Cooke is a neurosurgeon and clinical director of the Royal’s
Neuro department. With 12 years’ experience he knows how high
the stakes are in his work, saying: “You can never be complacent
in neurosurgery. You have no margin for error. If you manipulate a
tissue or a nerve that is 1mm or 2mm away from where you should be
manipulating, it can cause significant
disability.”
Mother of two, Cathy Norrell from Larne, is one of Steve’s patients
that the documentary follows. Six years ago, Cathy
was diagnosed with having cerebro-spinal fluid leaking from her nose.
This is the clear liquid in which the brain floats and can save the
brain from damage in the case of trauma and also protects the body’s
central nervous system.
The leak has made Cathy at high risk of developing meningitis and
she has already survived one life-threatening attack. She has had
five operations to stop the leak from her brain but each time the
leak has returned. This time she hopes Steve Cooke can finally stop
the leak and help her lead a
normal life again with her family.
Jabir Nagaria is a neurosurgeon who specialises in high-risk spinal
surgery. As a surgeon, he follows what he refers to as some “very
simple rules”. Jabir says: “One is that you only operate
on a patient that you are entirely comfortable with in your mind,
and two, if there’s a complication, you’re able
to deal with that. Even the simplest procedures in neurosurgery, if
it goes wrong, can cause horrible consequences.”
In the programme we meet retired secretary, Anita Verner from Lisburn
who is one of Jabir’s patients awaiting surgery. Anita has been
diagnosed with a spinal tumour that is
compressing her spinal cord and she is aware of the scale of the operation
on her spine.
“There is an element of risk obviously,”
Anita says, “but Jabir told me that I didn’t
have a decision to make - because he said inside two to three years
you will be paralysed if you don’t have this operation.
So I thought, positive thinking here, I have to have this operation.”
We also meet 44-year-old construction worker James Rodgers from Castlewellan
who is suffering from serious epileptic seizures caused by a brain
tumour. Forced to give up his job as a result of his condition, James
is being cared for at home by his wife, Sally, and their young daughter
Michaela.
James is facing an operation to remove his tumour and investigate
the nature of the tumour with neurosurgeon David McAuley. With four
years’ experience as a consultant
neurosurgeon at the Royal, David knows how to deal with the huge
responsibility that his job demands.
David says: “I think you need not to take life terribly seriously
because the job is quite stressful and if you dwelt on the stress
that the job induces I think it could become unmanageable.”
David has been monitoring James’s condition closely, and has now decided to operate. But it’s going to be a complicated operation as James’ tumour consists of his actual brain tissue and David has to try to remove it without damaging James’ brain function and movements on the left side of his body.
In the programme we see
David carry out a complex procedure
called brain-mapping, to help him identify the tumour tissue and,
in turn, enable him to remove as much as he can of it, as safely
as he can.
Superdocs director Jonathan Golden says: “Life as a surgeon
means making difficult decisions on a daily basis, weighing up the
risks of operating on patients and carrying out long and demanding
operations. It’s certainly not a job for the faint-hearted.”
Diarmuid Lavery, series producer, says: “Nobody welcomes the
day when serious ill-health or the need for life saving surgery
arrives on your doorstep. But somehow it seems the act of giving
oneself over to the awesome skills of our top surgeons makes the
experience so much more bearable.
“Filming with patients for over a year in Belfast’s Royal
and City hospitals, and spending many long days in the operating theatres
and on recovery wards, there was no question of how universally high
the regard was for the doctors there.”
In the final programme of the series on BBC One NI Monday February
9 at 9pm, we meet plastic surgeon Brendan Fogarty as
he treats a young man with serious
burns and breast surgeon Sigi Refsum at Belfast’s City Hospital
as she helps a woman recently diagnosed with breast cancer.