A marathon 20-hour operation that involved peeling the skin off a man’s face to remove his cancerous jaw has prevented the disease from spreading to his brain stem – and saved his life.
The ‘face-off’ surgery involved cutting out more than half of Paul O’Connor’s lower jaw and then reconstructing his face with bone taken from his leg.
The solicitor was diagnosed with a metastatic melanoma that had spread into his jaw and was advised he had about six months to live without extreme surgical intervention.
It had all started with a numb patch on his chin. “I saw multiple specialists before being referred to the Mater Private Hospital Brisbane team,” Mr O’Connor, 61, said.
“They advised immediate, radical surgery to give me the best chance of success.”
Mater Private Hospital Brisbane plastic and reconstructive surgeon Theo Birch said the number of similar cases with melanoma as the cause was so rare that no official survival rate statistics are available.
Dr Birch said he and his colleagues – neurosurgeon Dr Damian Amato and ear nose and throat specialists Professor Ben Panizza and Associate Professor James Bowman – form Queensland’s “last line of defence” before such cancers reach the brain and become inoperable.
“With so few people doing these surgeries globally, it’s fair to say the Mater team are world leaders,” Dr Birch said. Dr Birch said the surgery involved an incision into Mr O’Connor’s neck, before pulling the skin up and away from his jaw and face.
“To ensure we successfully removed the cancer, we had to take out most of his lower jaw,” Dr Birch said.
“Dr Amato then performed a craniotomy to remove any cancer-affected nerves.”
A piece of bone from Mr O’Connor’s leg was then used to reconstruct the jaw. Dr Birch said Mr O’Connor‘s recovery was incredible but it had been a long road to recovery.
“Now, his quality of life is excellent and he’s enjoying time with his three-month-old granddaughter Kinsley Mae,” Dr Birch said Mr O’Connor, of Grafton in Northern NSW, said going through the challenges had been worth it to be able to spend time with Kinsley Mae.
“Now you wouldn’t know I’d had the surgery if met me, except there’s a patch of beard missing from the radiation,” he said.
Feature image top of page: (l-r) Dr Theo Birch and patient Paul O'Connor at Mater Private Hospital recently.
Image left: Paul O'Connor in recovery just days after the marathon surgery.
