As seen on THV11

A cutting-edge robot known as the Da Vinci Robot played a pivotal role in one woman's bout with cancer. Theresa Chudy is a math teacher at Mount St. Mary's Academy in Little Rock. When she visited CHI St. Vincent for a colo-rectal exam, she left with troubling news. A biopsy showed pre-cancerous cells.

Chudy wanted to give us a confession, maybe a reflection of her place of work.

"I had put off having the colonoscopy, just like so many people," Chudy said. But her sisters had undergone screenings. So she finally did it. And there were several polyps needing immediate attention. But the news never got to her.

"Right at the beginning, he had a plan. And that's what my husband and I both liked about it," Chudy said. That's where the Da Vinci Robot comes in. Robotic assisted surgery can help physicians pinpoint and perform surgery with incredible accuracy.

"It's almost like a surgeon having tiny hands in the abdomen," Dr. Lee Raley, colorectal surgeon at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary said.

But she was never that worried. She had faith in her surgeon and his choice to use the robot. "I was just stunned and how good I felt so quickly, even in the hospital," Chudy said.

Learn more about Dr. Lee Raley, CHI St. Vincent Infirmary and robotic assisted surgery.