Woman has internal organs removed in unique surgery

Brooke Zepp wasn't taking no for an answer. The 63-year-old Florida woman had a rare tumor deep in her abdomen. Her doctors told her that it was inoperable, and that she had only months left to live. Rather than accepting her fate, however, she asked someone else. Eventually, she ended up at the Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center Transplant Institute.

The team there did a surgery that was the first of its kind. They removed six of Zepp's internal organs -- the stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen, small intestine, and part of the large intestine -- to get at the tumor. The organs were left on ice while the tumor was removed, then put back in place, using artificial blood vessels to reconnect the blood supply.

Zepp claims to be feeling great and has a new lease on life. The surgery may lead to new procedures for operating on people with tumors that are tough to remove.