Daniel Lehrman's battle with bladder cancer began nine years ago. He fought and won twice. Then it came back a third time.

"Not to say that I wasn't anxious and scared, because I certainly was," he said.

Surgeons needed to remove his bladder to boost his chance of surviving. They used a robot not only to pull out the diseased organ, but to build him a new one.

"It's six operations put together as a package deal. The idea is to have less pain for the patient, faster ambulation, and the patient can go home sooner and get back to their life," said Murugesan Manoharan, M.D. associate professor of urology.

Doctors pulled out the cancerous bladder through a two-inch incision. Surgeons then directed the robot to cut a two-foot piece of the small intestine, fold it over and stitch it into a new bladder, all inside Daniel's body.

"If you use their own tissue, there's no question of rejection."

It improved Daniel's odds dramatically.

"When the odds go from 70% to 80% chance of recurrence down to 10%, most people, myself included, go, 'Hey, those are nice numbers!'" said Daniel.

A man who plans to do a lot more living and a lot less worrying.

For more information: Ivanhoe Broadcast News2745 W. Fairbanks Ave.Winter Park, FL 32789http://www.ivanhoe.comMelissa Medalie, Supervising Producer Medical Newsmmedalie@ivanhoe.comDirect Line: (407) 691-1516Viewer Line: (407) 740-0789 ext. 579