A DAD who had an ear removed while battling cancer has celebrated a year of being cancer free with the purchase of a hilarious tongue-in-cheek personalised number plate.
David Boden had to go undergo gruelling radiotherapy last year to fight his diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma, one of the rarest cancers in the world.
An operation saw the 43-year-old left with burns, as well as having his right ear removed along with part of his skull, his salivary gland, facial nerves, lymph nodes and five teeth.
David from Cannock, Staffordshire then underwent grafts from his left leg to rebuild his face and doctors fitted metal implants to aid the structure.
Thankfully, engineer David was finally given the all-clear and after last week marked a full year of being cancer free he decided he wanted to treat himself, opting for a new registration plate.
David never lost his humour throughout the near-two years since his diagnosis, a fact that is made clear in the self-deprecating number plate that he opted for.
Sporting the registration number LO57 EAR, the plate is an obvious nod to the sacrifice David made as part of his surgery.
Despite his new purchase, the dad-of-two hasn’t yet attached the £999 plate, instead explaining that he’s considering a new car at the moment, so will attach it once he’s got the new motor.
David shared an image of him with his new plate online last week, writing: “So I got the first year cancer free the other day after stage four cancer in my head and neck.
“So [I] thought I’d treat myself to a new reg.
“[The cancer] left my right side of face paralysed, I can’t smile or blink and I had to have my right ear completely removed.
“Lucky I didn’t lose my sense of humour and I treated myself to this plate, still got to get it on my car.”
His post received over 1,600 likes with hundreds of comments from well-wishers left in awe at David’s upbeat attitude despite his situation.
One said: “That’s brilliant mate, congratulations on your first year cancer free and well done for keeping your sense of humour intact through such adversity.”
Another commented: “Great attitude mate, good on you.”
A third replied: “Great story from a great guy, well done pal and love the plate.”
Another added: “Well done my friend, your strength is amazing, someone to look up to, may you prosper.”
Speaking today, David said: “I thought the registration was funny, I found it a while ago for sale via the DVLA and I kept talking myself out of buying it.
“After my first year cancer free I thought why not treat myself and bought it, I think half the battle with cancer is mind over matter and being positive and just refusing to let it get the better of you.
“I can’t fit the registration yet as my cars are too old, hopefully in the next month or so I will get it on that.
“I’m thinking of a Honda Accord Estate as I need a big car with two kids and two dogs to ferry about.
“I got ill in 2021 and eventually on 15 November I was told I had adenoid cystic carcinoma which is very rare, around 0.4% of all cancers.
“I had my surgery on 20 December 2021 and had skull bone, salivary gland, facial nerves and 27 lymph nodes removed as well as five teeth and my complete right ear.
“It wasn’t fun at the time and the radiotherapy was tough as I had to be pinned into the machine so my face couldn’t move an inch and they could target it on my jugular vein without any risks.”
