BEAUFORT, S.C. (WFLA/CNN) – A South Carolina man has finally been reunited with a prosthetic ear he lost near Holmes Beach.
Earlier this week, the Holmes Beach Police Department posted a photo of the prosthetic ear that was found on the beach in hopes of finding the person it belonged to.
The story of the lost ear quickly went viral. Within days, word had spread across the country. One of the people who saw the story online did turn out to be the owner.
Merritt Yeager says he was on vacation this month and decided to go for a swim off Anna Maria Island. While he and his wife were in the water, Yeager says his prosthetic ear fell into the water.
“My wife, she heard me go ‘oh no,'” he recalled. “She saw it bobbing in the surf for a moment. Almost had it, but the water took it away.”
Yeager says his ear is very easy to wear – but also very easy to lose.
“They come off, they’re magnets. Off and on,” he explained. “I know that’s interesting but it’s easy to do.”
Yeager actually says this isn’t the first time he’s lost his ear. The incident in Florida marked the second time it happened in three months.
“In April, I had an automobile accident. A dead tree fell out of the Taco Bell parking lot,” he said. “It destroyed my truck. In the cab, I hit the roof, hit this one and broke it.”
Thankfully, he was reunited with the prosthetic he lost in Florida on Friday. A local found it on the beach just a few days after Yeager lost it.
“She said it was very sandy and in good shape,” he said. “By the photos, I’m surprised it wasn’t sandblasted into nothing.”
Yeager says he was born without an ear. He’s not sensitive to the jokes this story has generated. He says the funniest one he’s seen is that he’s been “ear-responsible.”