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Mum of two who died of cancer to be first human body dissected on TV-Rachael O'Connor-Entertainment – Metro
Toni Crews was just 30 when she died of cancer in 2020.
Channel 4 is to air the dissection of a human body in a new educational documentary (Picture: PA)
A new documentary will mark the first time a dissection of a named donor has been captured on TV, Channel 4 said.
Mother-of-two Toni Crews died in August 2020 at the age of 30, after battling a rare form of cancer which affected her eyes.
Before her death, she agreed to donate her body to medical science and have it on public display.
Now Crews’ voice will be replicated on a Channel 4 documentary My Dead Body, which will see her essentially contemplate her own death through diary entries and letters to her family.
It will also see her body be dissected, which Channel 4 says is a world-first for television.
Crews became the first public display cadaver in the UK since records began 180 years ago, and the first British cadaver to be seen being dissected in such a way, for almost 200 years, according to the broadcaster.
Toni Crews was just 30 when she died from a rare form of cancer (Picture: Instagram @nlingkofaneye_)
The documentary film follows Professor Claire Smith, head of anatomy at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and her team as they dissect Crews’ body and chart the course of the disease from the initial diagnosis to her death four years later.
Channel 4 said the dissection of the body will be part of a series of educational workshops intended to ‘educate viewers on the science of cancer and its journey through the human body.’
The mum-of-two regularly shared snapshots of her lif on social media, and this will help create a narration for the documentary (Picture: Instagram @nlingkofaneye_)
Speaking ahead of the documentary release, Professor Smith said: ‘As part of this documentary, we were able to invite more than 1,000 students, including nurses, paramedics and neuroscientists, who wouldn’t normally get to learn about this one in a million cancer.
‘Toni’s gift of body donation doesn’t end with this documentary either, her body will be used to educate our medical students and doctors for years to come.’
The documentary will also see Crews’ family give an insight into her brave, funny and resilient character.
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Her social media posts and letters to her children have been recreated with her voice by using replicating technology.
My Dead Body will air later this year on Channel 4.
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