35 year-old Herve Ndikuriyo didn’t know that his heart was being suffocated. It was being mummified in a calcium build up that could have been fatal.

Herve guesses that he’s been dealing with this condition for about two years, but in November the pain became too much.

“They showed me the x-ray, my heart was trapped in stone.”

The condition is called constrictive pericarditis, a rare condition that Hamilton General sees less than 10 times per year and in Herve’s case, it was severe.

After thorough tests, Dr. Whitlock a heart surgeon at Hamilton General Hospital, is still unsure of the cause of Herve’s specific case. He does about three of these operations a year, they usually take under two hours but this was the most extreme case he’s ever seen.

“Because it was so calcified and some of that calcium had grown into the heart muscle, it was a lot more tedious.”

The surgery was over three hours long.

The operation in early January was successful and Herve is expected to make a full recovery.

In a few months, Herve expects to be driving, working, and even wants to go back to school.