Last Chance Surgery
Documentary
Who can sincerely answer that question with the merit it deserves? A priest…a scholar…an intimate friend?
I’ll tell you who understands just how precious life is…Just ask the woman dying from cancer with a loving husband and three gorgeous kids…she’ll tell you. Just ask the thirteen year old boy who’s succumbed to the most dreadful diagnosis…he’ll tell you.
When life itself is on the line…only then do you understand its true meaning.
In this compelling new medical series, LAST CHANCE SURGERY, we will features inspirational stories of everyday Australians who have to face their worst nightmares.
From seemingly in-operable water melon size tumors, through to heart defects that are almost too complex for the surgeons to fix. We’ll meet the brave patients and their families who never give up and never lose hope.
The odds might be stacked against them but they have one final shot at life…They will have LAST CHANCE SURGERY.
When the stakes are this high, there are surgeons who rise to meet the challenge. These are the doctors you go to when nobody else can help. Surgeons like Dr Charlie Teo, one of Australia’s top Neurosurgeons.
Interviews with family, friends, patient and surgeon will provide powerful insights into the range of emotions felt during this difficult time. Initially, viewers will understand each patient’s predicament by way of back story and then follow their journey in real time.
• Emotional and dramatic back-story of the patient.
• Doctor’s consultation talking through the planned radical surgery.
• Morning of operation where family and friends say their emotional goodbyes.
• Detailed coverage of operation with surgeon commentary.
• Weeks of recovery, physiotherapy and doctors consultations.
• Release from hospital and time at home with family.
An episode will consist of two and sometimes three stories, cutting back and forth throughout the show.
Due to the severity of each case, most stories will feature over at least two to three episodes giving viewers the ability to personally engage with each patient and follow their recovery.
LAST CHANCE SURGERY. 10 X half hour episodes for the Seven Network Australia.
Season 1
S01: E01 - Shaynae/Jesse
Shaynae: Shaynae looks just like any other, bubbly seventeen year old with the world at her feet, but appearances can be deceiving.
Shaynae is dying.
She is suffering from one of the most devastating brain tumours known to man and her last chance is to undergo risky surgery to try to remove the tumour. Only one surgeon, Internationally acclaimed Neurosurgeon; Dr Charlie Teo, is prepared to operate, but even the surgery will put Shaynae’s life at risk.
It’s the kind of decision you can only hope you will never have to make.
Jesse: At just twenty years old, Jesse has already stared death in the face twice, and survived.
Now Jesse and his family are facing a new and devastating threat and his last chance is to undergo dangerous, marathon surgery in the hope that they can defeat the paraplegia that is threatening to overcome him.
S01: E02 - Shaynae/Jesse/Christine
Shaynae: The moment of truth for seventeen year old Shaynae and her family has arrived…
Shaynae has made the enormous decision that will affect all of those around her, who love her so much.
Jesse: Young Jesse has just survived a marathon eighteen hour operation to remove the tumour that is once again threatening him.
His family now wait to find out if Professor Watkins has been successful and given Jesse his last chance to walk again.
Christine: Most of us live with stress, but 40 year old Tasmanian, Christine, lives with the knowledge that the enormous aneurysm deep in her brain could rupture at any time with devastating consequences.
Christine and her partner Nick have come to Sydney to see Internationally acclaimed Neurosurgeon, Professor Michael Morgan to see if he can give Christine and Nick a chance for a future together.
S01: E03 - Christine/Gavin/Kimberley
Christine: Professor Michael Morgan has offered Christine her last chance at a future with Fiancé Nick. The surgery to fix the aneurysm deep in her brain is extremely dangerous but it’s her only option for a normal life…
All Christine and Nick can do is to place their faith in Professor Morgan as he attempts the difficult operation to save her.
Gavin: Gavin is 56 years old. He’s a father, a son, a beloved brother and uncle and he’s just been given months to live…
He needs a miracle…
One surgeon may be able to offer him just that miracle but it involves a radical new surgery that will remove over half of his liver. Will Gavin decide to go ahead with Last Chance surgery?
Kimberley: Kimberley is a bubbly 28 year old who will change your mind about organ donation…
Kimberley has spent her entire working life caring for those who are most vulnerable as an intensive care nurse, but now she herself is struggling to survive.
It’s a battle she cannot win without both the support of her husband Ben but most importantly, the ultimate gift from a stranger she will never meet.
S01: E04 - Christine/Kimberley/Jesse
Christine: After the risky surgery to Bypass the aneurysm that threatened Christine’s life, her long recovery will depend on the love and support from her partner Nick, as they try to ensure their future together.
Kimberley: Imagine the feeling of waiting for a phone call that you fear might never come…
28 Year old Kimberley Livingstone has been waiting for such a phone call for over 12 months. And her situation is becoming critical
Kimberley’s life is about to change and it’s all because an anonymous grieving family has made an incredible decision that will change Kimberley and Ben’s lives forever…
Jesse: Jesse is recovering well from the surgery to save him from a life of paraplegia, but now he and his family face a new and more deadly threat.
S01: E05 - Kimberley/Claudius/Shannon
Kimberley: Kimberley has survived Last Chance Surgery to give her the new lungs she needed to live.
Now Kimberley and her loving husband Ben prepare for a new life.
Claudius: As a journalist in the Solomon Islands during the civil unrest, Claudius has been witness to more than most.
But in the ultimate twist of irony he now faces the possibility of living the rest of his life in darkness. Can Australia offer Claudius his only hope of saving his sight and his life?
Shannon: Shannon is 9 years old and has already survived 15 brain operations. Once again her family have received the news that they dread…the tumours have returned.
Can Dr Charlie Teo offer them Last Chance Surgery again to save their little girl?
S01:E06 - Shannon/Kate/Claudius
Shannon: Shannon and her family have come to their familiar hero Dr Charlie Teo to try to save their precious little girl.
Can Dr Teo, once again, give Shannon the chance to grow up?
Kate: Over thirty years ago and at just three years old, Kate Little was diagnosed with Cancer. The very drugs that saved her young life then, have now destroyed her heart and it is failing.
Without the most selfless gift of all Kate has only months to live.
Claudius: Claudius had surgery on a pituitary tumour that was threatening his sight and his life.
Surgeons managed to remove the tumour, but now he waits to see if his vision will return.
S01:E07 - Kate/Shannon/William
Kate: Kate is 33 and living each day with the knowledge that her heart is failing. After three cardiac arrests and months on life support, her last chance is a new heart, but will the call come before it’s too late?
Shannon: Shannon has survived the operation to save her life, but has it come at a terrible cost?
Dr Teo and her family wait to see if Shannon wakes up the girl they said goodbye to.
William: Baby William is just 7 days old and already needs life saving surgery. His parents have come to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead to see if Professor Winlaw can save their little boy with high risk open heart surgery.
S01: E08 - Merryl/William
Merryl: Merryl is a beloved Wife and Mother who is suffering from an incurable tumour at the base of her brain.
Despite repeated surgery the tumour is taking from Merryl the most basic of functions and will eventually take her life.
William: Baby William is just 7 days old and has undergone last chance surgery. His worried parents wait to see if Professor Winlaw has been successful in his quest to give William the chance to grow up.
But Merryl’s family refuse to give up and have come to controversial Neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo to see if he can offer Merryl the chance to see her grandchildren grow up.
S01: E09 - Merryl/Shirley/William
Merryl: Merryl’s family came to see Dr Charlie Teo to see if he could give Merryl a second chance of life.
Now the family waits to see if the surgery Dr Teo performed has given them their wish.
Shirley: Life has been hard for 50 year old Shirley since routine knee surgery left her with an infection so bad, that surgeons had no choice but to amputate her right leg.
Now, in an Australian first, surgeons are offering her an operation to give her a new implanted prosthetic limb.
William: Baby William has been given the chance to grow up with a massive open heart procedure.
Now his parents get the chance to finally take their little boy home.
S01: E10 - Jared/Shirley
Jared: Jared is an extraordinary young man who has crammed more in his short life than most people cram into a lifetime.
At just seventeen Jared suffered a stroke due to a deadly AVM. Now the AVM is back and his family are hoping their hero, Professor Michael Morgan, can save his life again.
Shirley: 50 year old Shirley has had the first of a two part operation to give her an implanted prosthetic limb in an Australian first. Now she must undergo the second operation and take the steps she has waited seven years to take.
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