Sam’s amazing recovery after cancer op death fears
A YOUNG cancer sufferer who doctors warned may not survive after his surgery has made a remarkable recovery.
Sam Parker, 23, had a rare tumour in his kidney called a paraganglioma, which usually strikes older people.
He had a nine-hour operation in December to remove the cancer, but fluid from it leaked into his lungs and rapidly decreased the amount of oxygen flowing around his body. Doctors called his parents to come and say their goodbyes.
Sam was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation life-support machine.
The ECMO took over the function of his heart and lungs – and thanks to his age and fitness he was soon breathing on his own again, which stunned medics.
Sam, of Clitheroe, Lancs, said: “Without the ECMO team, I wouldn’t be here today.” His parents Julie, 51, and Ian, 56, went to his side at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester with brother Josh, 25.
Julie said: “His eyes were taped up and I just remember thinking this only happens on TV.”
Incredibly, Sam was home by Christmas. He recalls doctors telling him his nausea and headaches were in fact the paraganglioma and he needed the operation at Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
Sam, a maintenance engineer, said: “They told me the tumour was a one-in-six-million chance. I kept thinking, ‘I’m 22, why is this happening?’ I eat well and I’m fit and healthy.”
He has since set up Sam’s Gratitude Fundraiser for Wythenshawe Hospital Charity to thank the team who saved his life.
Fundraiser Jo Thomas said: “Sam is an inspiration. It’s incredibly kind that he, his family and friends want to give back to the hospital.”