A cancer survivor who had to have part of his mouth removed after a tumour stopped him from swallowing has been given a new tongue made out of part of his arm . David Billing , 48 , has told how he had to undergo 14 hours of surgery at Royal Derby Hospital , during which surgeons sawed through his jawbone and removed part of his tongue . Medics then replaced the lost tissue with muscle from Mr Billing 's arm . The only drawback is that it still has hairs on it , and he now has to return to the hospital every few weeks to have it shaved . David Billing , 48 , had to have part of his tongue removed after being diagnosed with mouth cancer , so doctors made him a new one out of skin from his arm - which still has hairs on it . The dramatic story began after Mr Billing , a part-time welder , went to his GP in October 2013 after being unable to swallow . After a second doctor 's appointment , he was referred to Royal Derby where specialists discovered an ulcer on the right-hand side of his tongue and confirmed it was cancer after a biopsy . He said : 'Being told I had cancer was mind-blowing and a real low point for me . I had no idea when they found this ulcer in my mouth that this was what it would be . ' It was a double-blow for Mr Billing , as he had been made redundant just a week before from his job at digger manufacturer JCB . He said : 'It was all so overwhelming . My life and everything was ticking along nicely and the next thing I knew I 'd lost my job and needed to have a major operation . ' David had the procedure to remove the lump and rebuild his tongue on November 13 , 2013 . He said : ' I had to have a stomach tube fitted first and then go through the main procedure . Mr Billing was forced to undergo 14 hours of surgery at Royal Derby Hospital ( pictured ) , with surgeons sawing between two teeth and through his jaw to get to the tumour . 'They had to cut through the jawbone and get my face wide open to get to the ulcer then they had to remove some lymph nodes in my neck too , just to be safe in case the cancer had spread . ' David spent nine days in hospital after his operation , returning now only for check-ups and once for the smaller procedure to reshape his tongue . He said : 'Usually , people have to go on chemotherapy or radiotherapy after the operation and , during this , the skin tissue used to rebuild the tongue shrinks in size . 'Because I did n't need either , it meant I later needed this smaller operation to have the bit of skin trimmed . 'My tongue 's absolutely fine . I had to have speech therapy after the procedure but it 's not had any long term impact on my speech or my eating or drinking . ' David continued to use a feeding tube and relied on liquid foods until his first proper meal on Christmas Day 2013 . And , in another fortunate turn of events , he was offered his old job a JCB back in March 2014 . He added : 'JCB actually took me back having originally laid me off because of a lack of work . Mr Billing , who is now preparing to run the London Marathon to raise money for Cancer Research , says his speech is back to normal - though he does have to go to hospital to have his tongue shaved . 'It was the best feeling in the world when , two weeks after coming through the operation , the consultant told me the cancer was completely removed and I did n't even need radiotherapy or chemotherapy . ' Now David is preparing to run the London Marathon and is hoping to raise more than £3,000 for cancer research . He said : ' I was not fit or well at all when I was watching the London Marathon last year but I thought how much I 'd love to do it . ' I 've never done anything like it before so , when I started feeling better , I decided to start training and now I 'm about to take part in this experience of a lifetime . 'If I can get over the finish line , whatever time I do it in , it will be absolutely brilliant . '
David Billing , 48 , diagnosed with cancer after being left unable to swallow . Had 14-hour surgery during which doctors sawed through his jawbone . Needed new tongue created from arm skin , which allowed him to talk . But skin still has hairs on it , meaning he now needs to shave his mouth .