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Diane Stuttard had her lower left leg broken after being hit by a car while she walked home after a night out in 2001.
Both the tibia and fibula were shattered and she faced having the leg amputated after 11 operations.
However, she then contacted Anan Shetty, a leading orthopaedic surgeon, after seeing a Sky News report about him using stem cells to save the leg of a climber.
During her operation, at the private Spire Alexandra Hospital in Chatham, Kent, stem cells from her bone marrow were taken and mixed with a gel called Surgifill, which trapped the cells against the fracture. Within days they started to form healthy new bone, healing the break.
Surgeons also lengthened her leg by cutting into a healthy section of bone, injecting the stem cell mix and using an orthopaedic scaffold to gently pull the bone apart at a rate of almost half an inch (1cm) a month.
Although it is not the first time stem cells have been used in bone reconstruction, it is the first time the combination of stem cells, Surgifill and the leg lengthening technique has been used anywhere in the world.
She told Sky News: "I was advised to have the leg amputated by the surgeon in Leeds, but thankfully I said I wanted to wait until I had exhausted all avenues. I'm glad I did because this stem cell technique has come up and now it's my chance to get it right."
Mr Shetty said: "I am confident the fracture will join up. We managed to cut out all the dead bone and get into bleeding bone, which means that it is healthy. We also managed to use stem cells that will stimulate the bone to grow quicker."
The doctors and patient will have to wait 18 months before they can be sure the leg has healed properly.