Brain Hospital: Saving Lives

Episode 1

This week's programme focuses on three young people. Ben was hit by a car and is in a coma, 26-year-old Joy must stay awake for removal of a brain tumour, and 21-year-old Kelsey is having deep brain stimulation for severe epilepsy. "You enter into this world that is absolutely surreal," says Ben's mum, Joanne. "We're in a waiting room where all these families with their own stories are watching and asking about the progress of each other's family members. There's been sad stories, uplifting stories. It's just amazing, what this unit does." We also meet Joy, 26, who is going to have to be awake for the removal of a brain tumour. Before a previous operation, she told herself: "Oh for heaven's sake, you're not having brain surgery!" Somehow hanging on to her sense of humour, she continues: "And now I am having brain surgery... the needles, the brain, the skull coming off... I don't have a choice." 21-year-old Kelsey has epilepsy so severe that she's having deep brain stimulation, a radical procedure in which electrodes are inserted into her brain to try and control it. "I've never seen anyone so happy coming into hospital," says her mother, Adele. The no-nonsense courage of the Walton's patients is a wonder to behold.