And that, surgeons said, is likely to change medical practice.

The surgeon said there was a 75 percent chance the cancer would return in the next five years.

"The surgeon said only two weeks ago that you are too fat."

A surgeon trained at the same medical school said he had been to the front three times, most recently for a month.

The surgeon said he had a weakness in the heart.

"Tell him he will die before next morning," said the surgeon.

"I had a case some little time ago which was out of the ordinary," says the surgeon.

The surgeons say you won't be up to a route march for several weeks.

"I'd like to get a little more blood in him," the surgeon said.

As the surgeons said might happen, he didn't suffer, except for the last four days.