Barber, 24, needs surgery to correct rare defect - PHOTO

A 24-year-old man is waiting to have surgery after living his entire life with his heart beating just below the skin of his abdomen. Ho Zhiliang was born with congenital cardiac exposure syndrome - a condition which is said to kill more than 90 per cent of patients at birth or shortly afterwards.After Mr Zhiliang was born, his parents were warned he would not live long as his heart was so exposed. They took him home to care for him and, to their amazement, he survived. After he left school, he found a job as a barber and resigned himself to living with the condition.However, earlier this year he read a newspaper article about someone with a similar condition who had undergone surgery to place their heart back in the correct position. So, he gave up his job and moved to Wuhan in the hope of receiving the same surgery. Doctors are currently forming a plan to help him.Mr Zhiliang read the story of Huang Rongming, from Henan province in China, who underwent life-changing surgery to move his heart into his ribcage.He had lived his entire life with a heart protruding from his abdomen, and after the surgery, was finally able to walk upright without getting out of breath or turning blue. Mr Rongming could not afford the procedure that would place his heart in his chest, but media coverage of his condition enabled him to undergo the life-changing operation.He had lived with the rare condition for 24 years until a doctor told him his condition was rapidly deteriorating and that he required urgent surgery.'It's a dream come true. I'm going to lead a normal life like everyone else,' he told ChinaDaily before the surgery.Until he had the operation, Mr Rongming's heart could clearly be seen pumping underneath a thin layer of skin and bulging out from his upper belly.The surgery lasted more than 10 hours and was entirely successful. His abdomen is now flat and his heart defect fixed.Mr Rongming said: 'I am now normal, thanks to the many kind souls.'(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az