SHANGHAI, CHINA — Surgeons in China performed an extremely rare surgery to help a man who suffered a rare condition where his bowels would not move, causing severe constipation that went on for several years.

According to China’s Sina News, the 22-year-old man is believed to have been born with Hirschsprung’s disease, a condition where missing nerve cells renders the patient unable to have a bowel movement. It mainly affects babies and young children.

Prior to the surgery, the man relied on laxatives and other constipation medicine to force himself to defecate. In June, the unnamed man was in so much pain and discomfort that he finally went to see the doctor.

Results confirmed the man had an astonishing amount of feces trapped inside a section of his colon. Doctor Yin Lu of the the 10th People’s Hospital of Shanghai said, “It looked like it could explode at any time.”

After a three-hour long surgery, doctors were able to remove the affected part of the man’s intestine, ending his 22-year-long abdominal nightmare. The removed section was later measured and was 30 inches long, and weighed 28 pounds.

The man is reportedly in stable condition and is expected to make full recovery.