Darlington mam undergoes pioneering robotic surgery WEEKS after giving birth
Gemma Walker had her second child six weeks early after a tumour was found in her lung.
A Darlington mam who underwent pioneering robotic surgery says it was a 'little bit scary.'
Gemma Walker was pregnant with her second child when she was told by doctors that she had a tumour on her lung.
The 27-year-old was put under the care of cardiothoracic consultant Joel Dunning, who had plans to use a cutting-edge robot at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.
Gemma said: “I had got to the stage whenever I made physical effort like climbing the stairs I was seriously out of breath. I knew something had to be done.
"Mr Dunning explained that he was going to use the robot to help remove the tumour, which sounds quite scary, but the speed of my recovery has been fantastic, compared to what it would have been without it.”
Mr Dunning added: “This is the first time in the UK that the Da Vinci robot has been used for the removal of a tumour from the main airway of a lung.
"The difficulty comes in the fact that the left lung had to be disconnected from the rest of the airways and then stitched back together after the tumour had been removed.
“This is impossible with our usual method of minimally invasive lung surgery as it is too difficult, but with the Da Vinci robot to help us with the delicate stitching, we managed this and also managed to preserve the whole of her left lung."
Gemma was back home with her family only four days after the operation, thanks to the minimally invasive procedure.
She added: “The short stay in hospital flew by and I can’t thank the staff enough for what they, and the robot, have done for me.
"It was great to be back with Finlay, his two-year-old brother Henry and my partner Daniel so soon after the procedure.
"I feel a hundred times better than I did just a few weeks ago.”