After speaking with his wife, Sharon, Mr Fritts made the agonising decision to go ahead with the surgery which left him without a nose, upper lip, or palate.
But now the former carpenter, from Georgia, has been able to kiss his wife for the first time in a decade after having a new face fitted, and says he now wants to take her out to dinner.
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
He said: ‘If you’ve ever had a bad dream that is what it is like, except you don’t wake up
‘I would have to chew by pushing my fingers down on my bottom teeth which meant I was too embarrassed to dine out.
Mr Fritts, a father-of-three, married Sharon in 2000, six years after separating from his first wife.
But just two years later, he started to notice unusual pains in his teeth.
Then, one night as he tucked into his favourite meal of steak and chips he felt a worrying pain in his mouth.
‘I told Sharon it felt like my teeth were coming loose,’ he said. ‘It was really painful.’
The next day Mr Fritts saw a dentist who referred him to a doctor who thought it was simply a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics.
Despite the increasing pain and his teeth growing looser every day, a further 14 doctors gave the same diagnosis.
It was only after a horrifying discovery in the spring of 2003 that Mr Fritts, from Georgia, U.S., was sent to a specialist who could tell him what was really wrong.
Mrs Fritts said: ‘I knew it was something serious as Donnie’s pain got worse and worse.
‘He could no longer eat dinner because it was so painful for him to chew.
‘Then one morning I heard a cry from the bathroom. Donnie was calling for me, he needed help.
‘His nose, which had been looking increasingly rashy, had become red raw. As he touched it with his finger blood and puss started pouring out.
‘He put his fingers inside and a huge lump of bloody flesh popped out and landed in the sink. He was in agony. The smell was horrific – like rotting meat. We were both in tears.
‘I’d had enough. We were going to demand to see a specialist who would get to the bottom of this.’
Mr and Mrs Fritts made their way to Atlanta where Mr Fritts was finally given a biopsy.
His wife said: ‘The news was devastating. The doctor said Donnie had this aggressive cancer and if he didn’t have loads of his face removed he would certainly die a terrible, painful death.
‘The cancer was so rare there have only been 26 recorded cases worldwide and it’s more likely a person will be hit by lightning than get it.
‘I sat in shock as Donnie and the doctor shared a laugh about how Donnie had survived being hit by lightning twice – so he wasn’t that surprised with the news.
‘Still we were both devastated, though it was at least a relief to know what was going on.
‘The doctor told us most of the face would have to go. He said “the cancer has gone right into the bone. We may need to take the nose, the mouth, teeth and both the eyes too”.’
Mr Fritts was in shock but only had a short time to make his decision.
‘I hit rock bottom,’ he said. ‘I was only 49 but I would never properly kiss my wife again. I’d never chew another meal, may not be able to talk, sing, work or even see.
‘I wasn’t sure if life after surgery would even be worth living. I thought about just letting the cancer kill me.
‘But I knew Sharon wouldn’t allow it. And I couldn’t leave her on her own. I knew I had to do what I could to survive this.’
In August 2003 Mr Fritts underwent a 12-hour operation to remove three tumours that were threatening his life. He was given just a two per cent chance of surviving.
Amazingly, the operation was a success but when Mr Fritts woke from the anaesthetic and saw his reflection he was horrified.
To date, only about 30 cases have been reported worldwide.
The tumours tend to grow aggressively in the face but do not often spread to other organs.
Treatment usually involves surgery and, sometimes, radiotherapy.
Source: Radiation Oncology
He said: ‘I woke up in a blur and looked around. The good news was I still had my eyes and hadn’t lost my vision.
‘The bad news was I looked hideous. I caught a glimpse of myself on a shiny part of an X-ray machine as I lay there and I actually pushed myself back as I was laying down, thinking I had seen a ghost or a monster. Then I realised it was me.
Over the next six years Mr Fritts had to have another 35 operations to stabilise his face.
He sometimes wore a dust mask in public to hide the hole and it broke his heart when he saw little children run to their parents in fear after seeing him.
Mr Fritts became increasingly reclusive, so Sharon found a prosthetic expert who used to make disguises for CIA agents and got him to design a new face for Donnie.
However, just a few weeks after having the face fitted, Mr Fritts contracted a bacterial infection which threatened to kill him a second time as it was so close to his brain.
Luckily, after two weeks in intensive care, he beat the infection, but it left him back at square one, living with the large gap in his face.
However, thanks to a new series of operations including fitting a metal cage to his face to hold the prosthetic in place, Mr Fritts has a new face.
Donnie’s story appears in a new series of Body Bizarre, September 11, 9pm on TLC