“It Saved Me From Major Surgery”

South Wales Woman Shares Her Life-Changing Experience With Groundbreaking Bowel Procedure

A retired headteacher from South Wales has spoken out about the “remarkable” bowel procedure that helped her avoid major surgery—and is now available to other patients across Wales.

We are proud to share a powerful milestone in its mission to transform patient outcomes—one that is both deeply personal and nationally significant.

For the first time, a member of the Creo team has seen their own family directly benefit from Creo’s groundbreaking Speedboat® Submucosal Dissection (SSD) technology. Liz Thomas, wife of Jim Thomas, one of Creo’s founding software engineers, recently underwent the Speedboat procedure to remove a large precancerous lesion from her colon—avoiding the need for major surgery and a possible colostomy.

Faced with a recommendation for full bowel resection from her GP, Liz instead sought a second opinion and was offered the minimally invasive Speedboat option by Dr Zach Tsiamoulos at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Kent. In a powerful full-circle moment, Liz’s life was changed by the very technology her husband helped develop as part of Creo’s early software team.

Interview Highlights


Liz Thomas, Patient:

“The procedure was outstanding...No pain, no stitches, and I was back to my normal life in days. It gave me my life back, and I feel incredibly lucky.”


Full Interview

 

At the time of Liz’s treatment, the Speedboat device was not yet available in Wales. However, since then, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has become the first in Wales to launch a local pilot of Creo’s Speedboat service, offering patients like Liz access to cutting-edge care closer to home. The pilot has seen several successful patient treatments since its launch in early 2025 and is expected to drive broader adoption across NHS Wales.

Craig Gulliford, CEO of Creo Medical commented:

“This moment is incredibly special for all of us at Creo. Knowing that Liz—part of the extended Creo family—was able to avoid life-changing surgery thanks to a platform her husband helped build, is not just a testament to the clinical impact of our technology, but to the passion and dedication of our team. It’s a reminder of why we do what we do.”

Liz’s story underscores the clinical, personal, and societal value of Creo’s advanced energy technologies. The Speedboat procedure, powered by Creo’s CROMA platform, enables clinicians to cut, coagulate, and dissect tissue with precision—replacing traditional invasive surgeries with minimally invasive alternatives that significantly reduce patient recovery time, complications, and costs.

As adoption continues to grow across the UK and globally, Liz’s experience highlights the profound human impact of Creo’s mission: transforming lives, one procedure at a time.

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