A Swansea mother, Nicola Purdie, has undergone what surgeons believe to be a world-first procedure to reconstruct her right breast using tissue from her healthy left breast. The innovative surgery follows her second diagnosis of breast cancer in reconstructed tissue.
First Cancer and Initial Reconstruction
In 2020, shortly after giving birth to her first child, Nicola was diagnosed with right-sided breast cancer. She elected to have a bilateral mastectomy. Surgeons removed both breasts and immediately reconstructed them using stomach tissue in a DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap procedure. This technique preserves the tissue’s original blood vessels and reconnects them to chest-wall vessels through microsurgery.
Recurrence During Second Pregnancy
Everything went smoothly until Nicola became pregnant again last year. During her pregnancy, a lump appeared in the reconstructed skin of her right breast. Initial tests could only include X-rays and ultrasound, followed by a lumpectomy. Five months later, after her son’s early birth, further tests revealed multiple tumours in the skin and lymph nodes of her right breast.
The “Crazy Idea” for Reconstruction
Nicola faced the prospect of removing the cancerous right breast again. The standard option would have been an LD flap, which uses muscle and skin from the back. But Nicola, remembering a relative’s poor experience with that surgery, proposed an alternative: transplanting her healthy left DIEP flap to her right chest.
Consultant Reza Arya, a specialist in cancer removal and microsurgical reconstruction, had never seen this approach. After lengthy discussions with Nicola and consultations with experts nationwide, he concluded that the procedure, while untested, offered a promising solution for her unique case.
Seven-Hour Surgical Success
On April 15, Mr. Arya and his team spent seven hours transferring the entire left breast flap and skin to the right chest. They then reconstructed the right breast. Surgeons removed the ruptured implant and all silicone from Nicola’s right side, replacing it with smaller implants and adding surgical mesh for support. Follow-up tests confirmed no remaining cancer.
Recovery and Future Options
Nicola now faces radiotherapy before she can receive a new reconstruction on her left side. Doctors estimate a 70 percent chance of full recovery. Nicola quipped that her old nickname, “Jesus Jug,” is history, and joked about her surgeon finding her a new moniker.
Because the LD flap remains an option, Nicola retains a fallback plan if further reconstruction is needed. Meanwhile, she has presented Mr. Arya with a painting of Mumbles—named from the French mamelles (“breasts”)—to thank him for embracing her “mad idea.”
A Message of Hope
Now 38, Nicola lives in Swansea with her husband and two children. She hopes her story will guide others facing similar challenges. “This surgery gave me the chance to have two breasts again,” she said. “It let me keep my femininity and care for my baby. I want other women to know that even the most unusual ideas can work.”
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