THIS is the heart-wrenching moment that a leading NHS cancer surgeon realises pioneering surgery won’t be able to save a young dad’s life. Consultants had been hoping to remove a tumour from the stomach of Cameron O’Connor, aged 42, but find that his cancer had spread more than they realised. The scenes are part of Channel 4’ s Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life, which returns for a new series tonight (Tues).
The first episode follows Cameron and his wife Jo, 47, of Hertfordshire, who are parents to nine-year-old daughter, Ava. Professor David Nicol, Chief of Surgery at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital and Consultant Urological Surgeon, is leading the team treating Cameron, whose cancer originated in the testicles . After finding that his tumour has intwined with the bowel, Prof Nicol calls in colleagues to consult with them as to whether he should carry on proceeding and they too agreed surgery needed to be halted.
Cameron passed away four months after the operation, at the end of February 2024, having just turned 43 years old. In the operating scenes, Prof Nicol tells the TV cameras: “This might be worse than I thought it was. It’s into the small bowel.
“Essentially he’s got infiltration of tumour into the blood supply to his small bowel. “We’d need to resect completely remove the small intestine which then leaves you with very little gut. “That has very profound consequences in the people unable to feed, you’re stuck on having to have intravenous flu.
