Jennifer Matthews: Gary McArdle couldn't do much of anything just a few weeks ago.
Gary Mc Ardle: I'd be very nauseous. Depending on what I ate, I would throw up sometimes. I lost like 30 pounds over the space of about four months.
Jennifer Matthews: He finally went to a doctor.
Gary McArdle: They said a mass the size that I had is normally related to cancer.
Jennifer Matthews: A huge mass in his colon was crowding his intestines. Doctor Viktor Eysselein says obstructions like these are common in people with pancreatic, colon and uterine cancer.
Dr. Viktor Eysselein: As soon as a tumor grows, you will get obstruction in most cases.
Jennifer Matthews: To open that obstruction, he uses this expandable stent that enlarges over time.
Dr. Viktor Eysselein: The metal mesh goes from a diameter of maybe two, three millimeters, goes up to 20 to 22 millimeters, and it develops over time.
Jennifer Matthews: Doctor Eyesselein says the soft metal is nearly painless and is life-changing.
Dr. Viktor Eysselein: The first time they could eat solid food again, not only liquids, or if it was in the stomach, they could eat again without vomiting. It's a tremendous increase in quality of life.
Jennifer Matthews: This is Gary's blocked intestine before the mesh stent. Here it is after. Even better, he found out his mass wasn't cancer. It was inflammation from Crohn's disease.
Gary Mc Ardle: It's been fantastic. I'm building my strength back up. I'm living a day-to-day basis like a normal person.
Jennifer Matthews: With one less thing to worry about. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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