David Fletcher, 39, has taken part in a number of gruelling sporting activities, shocking both his doctors and family
An inspiring dad who has survived cancer five times in wowing his doctors with his amazing physical feats.
David Fletcher, 39, from Hull, hopes to inspire other sufferers not to give up.
He took part in an Iron Man Challenge just months after battling cancer for the fifth time, and earlier this month, completing the Long Course Weekend Wales 2017 triathlon.
The HGV driver has battled germ cell cancer twice, Hodgkin Lymphoma, skin cancer and testicular cancer over the last 18 years.
His unbelievable battle with cancer started in 1999 when, aged just 21, David found a lump on his neck the size of an egg and was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma, reported the Hull Daily Mail.
After overcoming that with six months of chemotherapy, eight years he was diagnosed was germ cell cancer, resulting in four months of intensive chemotherapy and an operation.
David, of Swanland, says staying fit probably saved his life.
“I have always kept fit and when I was diagnosed with germ cell cancer doctors said that it would have killed me if I hadn’t been fit,” he said.
In November 2013, he was diagnosed with skin cancer and then, in January 2015, David was struck down by testicular cancer and had to have his right testicle removed.
Unwilling to be beaten, David set a goal 19 days after chemotherapy to run his local ten-mile race before he completed his first marathon that April in 3 hours and 26 minutes.
“The events I have been doing have been for me and it is something I want to do. I have raised money in the past and I probably will do again but I want to inspire others.
“Many people think it is the end of the world when you get cancer but, for many, it doesn’t have to be. I want to give others hope by seeing what I am doing.”
David had been healthy for 11 months but, in February 2016, germ cell cancer returned. It resulted in a 12-week stint on chemotherapy and two operations.
After his last operation on October 4, 2016, he entered a 10k on October 30.
Then he ran a marathon the following Spring.
“I managed the Manchester Marathon in April. Doctors and nurses are amazed. They warned me not to do anything like this and now they can’t believe I managed to do it.”