A CANCER survivor who was told he may have only lived for a few months without life-changing surgery will now take on the UK’s longest zipline to give back to the hospital which saved him.

Paul Heffernan, from Basildon, underwent an extremely rare 13-hour operation to remove the cancer his from ear, jaw, neck and head - with surgeons taking muscle from his thigh to reconstruct the side of his face and head.

Left completely paralysed down the side of his face, Paul initially feared he would be left with just a hole in the side of his head where his ear once was.

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But thanks to the tireless efforts of the expert, hard-working team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, the team were able to save his ear and re-attach it.

Mr Heffernan even had to break the news of his surgery to his 14-year-old daughter Daisy just days after Christmas, and was told had it taken place any later he may not have lived to tell the tale.

The 50-year-old said: “I’ve been having problems for a few years with my ear, but I didn’t have any scans straight away.

“It was left for a while but the pain got unbearable in my ear, head, even my throat.

“I went to Southend Hospital to have a procedure to clear the lumps inside my ear, when they found a tumour in my ear canal.

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“It had started to spread into my head and neck.

“I had my surgery on December 30 and they had to take the whole inside of my ear out.

“When I woke up I didn’t know what was happening, I couldn’t move and had dozens of tubes in and out of my neck.

“I was told the next day by the surgeons that due to the second lockdown, if my surgery was left one more day or hadn’t have taken place when it did, I wouldn’t have been here within a matter of months.”

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Paul is still undergoing further treatment and finished six consecutive weeks of radiotherapy in April.

He is now classed as disabled.

Aiming to raise as much money as they can to help Addenbrooke’s Hospital cancer campaign and research, Paul and Daisy will take on the Hangloose Adventure (Bluewater) Zip Line in Kent this Saturday.

They will be joined by friend Sarah Campbell, who also manages Paul’s favourite pub - The Plough and Tractor in Basildon.

He continued: “I am actually scared of heights but this is my way of saying thank you to the team who saved my life.

“I cant see myself working again, but I just feel so lucky to be alive and to have had them.

"My partner Joanne Copperthwaite is helping me in my recovery and has stuck with me every step of the way."

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Anyone wishing to help should visit https://bit.ly/3iS6511 to support Paul’s mission for Addenbrooke’s Hospital.