TWO North-East consultants have been rated among the best in the world after saving the life of a man declared untreatable with a "miracle" cure.

All his life 45 year-old Daniel Anczarski had been told the abnormal growth on his neck was incurable and too dangerous to attempt to remove.

A vascular malformation birthmark meant his airways were full of bulging veins and by the time he was seen by consultants at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust his life was on the line.

Plastic surgeon Tobian Muir and head and neck surgeon Shane Lester took one look at Mr Anczarski's MRI results and were amazed he was still alive.

He said: "They told me they did not know how I was still breathing and that it could be a day, a week or a year, but I would die if I did not do something."

They embarked on a course of very complicated Bleomycin injections, a drug which shrinks the vessel lining cells.

James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and the Friarage at Northallerton were the first hospitals in Western Europe to offer the specialist treatment.

Mr Muir said he has seen many success stories with the treatment but Mr Anczarski's malformation was the worst he had ever come across.

He added: "This was really big. We knew we could improve it but we didn't think we could get the airway back to normal, however he had a miraculous response. It’s extraordinary and we hope other patients like him will now see that this is not untreatable."

Mr Lester said: "When I met Danny it was clear that his airway and life was at risk, whether or not he underwent treatment. Despite a couple of very close calls, we got him through it and we’re very pleased he is feeling better than ever."

After the first injection Mr Anczarski had to have a tracheostomy to help him breathe, but after eight further treatments the telephone engineer from Rugby says he feels like a new man and his sleep apnoea which had made his life a misery had also disappeared.

He said: "It’s been challenging but the help and support I had from the hospital has been amazing. I would class these two doctors as the best in the world. I breathe like a 20-year-old. I think they have created a miracle, it’s saved me. Other doctors would not touch it because it was on my veins. I have lived with it all my life and always been told there was no one who could help me."

A last ditch online search by his wife led him to the South Tees clinic.

"It was the first time ever someone was willing to take it on, added Mr Anczarski.

"Looking back now I don’t think I have breathed properly for the last 20 years. But I can do an hour at the gym and not even feel out of breath."