Grats on finding your toon but I figured I'd add a note on deleted toons here directly from Blizzard (http://us.blizzard.com/support/artic...delete+account):

deleted characters on an account will be permanently removed from our databases and become unrecoverable after a certain length of time, depending on their level:

1-30: Deleted after two months.
31-49: Deleted after four months.
50 and above: Never deleted.
As for cancelled accounts from the same link:

Blizzard's current policy is never to delete active characters of inactive accounts. If you reactivate your account at any point in the future, your characters will be ready to play. If this policy changes at any point in the future, it will be announced on www.worldofwarcraft.com.