43-hour operation

Mr. Collison, a wry, gray-haired man who has his own business selling metal-cutting tools, had a liposarcoma, an uncommon type of tumor that arises from fat cells. He had no symptoms until October 2008, when he began to itch all over and became jaundiced. A CT scan found a tumor the size of a softball pressing on his liver and blocking his bile duct. (Click on text to read the NYT article)


Photo: Alex di Suvero for The New York Times