A man who suffered from a severe form of arthritis that caused him to live essentially bent in half underwent a radical procedure to rebuild his spine at a hospital in China. Li Hua, 46, was first diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis at age 18, AsiaWire reported.

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Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), primarily affects the spine but other joints can be involved and causes inflammation that often results in severe, chronic pain, according to the Spondylitis Association of America. In severe cases, like Hua’s, the inflammation can cause the formation of new bones, leaving sections of the spine in a fused, fixed position.

Hua, of Yongzhou, allegedly could not afford treatment and relied on his mother for care. He could not sit straight up, or lie flat, and was struggling to eat or drink. In May, his case was presented to Professor Tao Huiren at Zhenzhen University General Hospital, who determined that Hua’s fixed posture was a threat to his heart and lungs, AsiaWire reported.

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“Our only option was to break his bones one section at a time – femur, cervical vertebrae, thoracic vertebrae – and then straighten his entire spinal column,” Huiren told AsiaWire. “The risks involved were 20-to-30 times that of a regular spinal surgery patient, and the chances of him becoming a paraplegic were also very high.”

The surgery took place in four parts, and Hua gradually became more upright with each step. Huiren said that eventually, his patient will be able to walk unassisted and regain normal movements.

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“There would have been no cure for me without Dr. Tao,” Hua told AsiaWire. “He’s my savior, and my gratitude to him is second only to my mother.”