A BUTCHER who survived mouth cancer is set to undergo major nine-hour surgery to rebuild his face using bone from his leg.

William Murdoch, 54, will endure the painful surgery to take his fibula bone and reset it in his jaw after it had to be removed to cut out a cancerous lump.

It was during a routine trip to the dentist in 2016 when William' s potentially deadly cancer in his mouth was detected.

Since then he has already endured 13 operations following a previous failed attempt at reconstruction.

And now William, who lives with constant pain and has no shoulder blade, will be left without a fibula bone in his left leg.

But the brave butcher, from Gourock, Inverclyde, says he has "no fear" and is just happy to be here.

He said: "I am a butcher, so I have been quizzing the surgeons on what they will be doing.

"I will be okay I am here and that is the main thing."

Last year William went into hospital for a 12-hour reconstructive surgery.

Surgeons had planned to remove the cancerous lump and replace it with tissue from his scapula flap from his shoulder, having already taken tissue from his hip.

But within hours they realised it hadn't set and William had to undergo a series of emergency operations.

During one painful op William, who works behind a Morrisons meat counter, was left fighting for his life after ending up with blood poising.

The doctors had almost given up hope but William pulled through and later went on to walk his wife Sandra, 43 down the aisle.

William said: "The doctors had just about decided that they couldn't do anymore. That was it.

"I saw my mother again and she has been dead for 15 years. I never believed in all that until then. But somehow I pulled through.

"For me it was Sandra. I wanted to live so that I could marry her."

He added: "I do hide the pain that I am in, but I believe in just getting on with things."

In August last year William and Sandra were married, a day they thought they'd never see.

William said: "It was the best day of our lives."