Transplant surgeons Marius Berman and Pedro Catarino take on one of the most difficult transplant procedures at Royal Papworth - the double lung transplant. With donor organs in such short supply, there is even more pressure to execute the operation perfectly.

Their patient, 52-year-old ex-plasterer David, is urgently called into hospital when a suitable set of donor lungs become available. David suffers from a genetic disorder called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, which is destroying the air sacs in his lungs. Tragically, he and his sister Kay have already lost their older brother to the same condition, so they are acutely aware of how urgently David needs the operation.

At Addenbrooke’s, consultant neurosurgeon Rod Laing also performs an operation where there is no room for error. He needs to remove a cavernoma – a tumour-like bundle of abnormal blood vessels sitting near the top of his patient’s spinal cord.

Kevin, a 53-year-old HGV driver, needs the operation because the cavernoma could rupture at any time, damaging the spinal cord and causing severe paralysis or even death. However, there is also a risk that his spinal cord could be damaged during the surgery to remove the cavernoma, and Kevin could be left paralysed from the neck down. Show less