Stewarton woman's leg saved with remarkable surgery after bone cancer diagnosis

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An Ayrshire cancer patient is getting back to normal life after her leg was saved during remarkable surgery in the middle of Covid restrictions.

The extraordinary operation carried out at the NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, during the pandemic to save Jan Ritson’s leg was a resounding success.

Almost two years after the Stewarton woman’s shin bone was removed, sent to another hospital for radiation treatment and then reinserted back into her leg during a 12-hour procedure, keen golfer Jan is making the most of life after her recovery period.

The rare and complicated operation in August 2020 at the height of the pandemic consisted of removing Jan’s tibia from her left leg at the Golden Jubilee, then taking it on a 20-minute journey to Glasgow’s Beatson west of Scotland cancer centre in a sterile container.At the Beatson, the bone received radiotherapy and was then repackaged and brought back to the Golden Jubilee, where the skilled team was waiting to insert it back in place – all while Jan was asleep on the operating table.The surgical squad, led by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Ashish Mahendra of Glasgow's Royal Infirmary, and teams from NHS Golden Jubilee and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, carried out their work with the aim of saving her leg and avoiding amputation.The Ayrshire Live app is available to download now.Get all the local news in your area – plus features, football news and the latest on the coronavirus crisis – at your fingertips 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories while you can customise your page with the sections that matter to you.The Ayrshire Live app is available to download now on iOS and Android.Reflecting on it all, Jan