Bus driver Reg in operation first for hospital (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Bus driver Reg in operation first for hospital

11:00am Sunday 14th October 2012 in News

A RETIRED bus driver from Clacton has become the first patient to have a new type of pioneering life-saving surgery at Colchester General.

Grandad-of-three Reg Mawby, 78, had the op to repair a potentially fatal swelling in his stomach.

He was suffering from a bulge in his abdominal aorta - the body's largest blood vessel.

It could have killed him if it had ruptured.

Surgeons carried out a technically tricky operation to repair the swelling. It uses a piece of medical equipment called a stent which is passed through blood vessels to seal off the aneurysm.

It was the first time the surgery had been performed at Colchester General which is a centre of excellence for vascular surgery.

The new procedure means patients no longer have to travel to London for treatment.

The operation is carried out using keyhole surgery instead of slicing open the tummy, making it much safer for patients.

The team was led by consultant vascular surgeon Sohail Choksy.

Widower Reg, of Langham Drive, said: “It was the first time I’d been to hospital as a patient since I’d gashed my hand as a teenage schoolboy in Wood Green.

“Mr Choksy told me that he would have to order a stent from Australia and it would cost £14,000.

“He explained that I would be the first person at the hospital to have this operation but it didn’t bother me – somebody’s got to be first!”