Christopher Wall was born with a rare birth defect called ectopia cordis, which is where a baby is born with their heart outside of his chest. Doctors told his mother and father that they didn’t expect him to survive for just one day.

But, they were wrong. Now, Wall is 34-years-old. He went through 15 surgeries to put his heart back in his chest. However, these surgeries held great risks, so they covered his heart with skin and a sternum made from a part of his hip bone.

To protect his heart, doctors also gave him a plastic protector to wear under his shirt.