Doncaster woman thanks hospital team who gave her life-saving surgery

Jennifer Atkinson, aged 70, underwent a radical cystectomy at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, a four and a half hour long operation to remove her bladder and womb.

She said: “I feel wonderful and I can’t fault the treatment I have had at any stage of the process. It has been world class. I want to thank the NHS for saving my life.”

Jennifer was one of a group of patients who were able to return home just three days after the surgery as a result of enhanced post-operative recovery procedures at the hospital’s urology department.

The operation went so well that she has subsequently been able to return to modelling, which she does for a local dress shop, and been on a long-haul holiday to Thailand without difficulty.

Jennifer added that when she was initially given the bad news that tests showed she had bladder cancer, it was like someone had hit her with a brick.

She said: “I was in shock, but the doctors were very calm and reassuring and told me that it could be treated with chemotherapy and an operation.

“I had never had surgery before, except to have my tonsils out when I was four. My father had died from cancer when I was 16, so I was frightened, although I know that treatments have obviously moved on a lot since then.

“But everything went well and the next thing I knew I was waking up afterwards.

“My husband Stephen came to see me and I felt alright. The operation was on a Friday and on Monday the doctor looked at me and said ‘I think you’re well enough to go home. It was amazing.”