A man from Aberdare had to wait six weeks for double bypass surgery because of pressures on the NHS. Ceri, 68, reached the top of the waiting list for urgent and necessary lifesaving heart surgery but faced delays for the lifesaving treatment he needed. Ceri was speaking on the BBC fly-on-the-wall series Saving Lives in Cardiff , set in the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. In the recent episode it revealed the waiting list for cardiothoracic surgery was 106 at the time of recording. Ceri, a former police officer and father of two, had unstable angina and had been suffering with pain in his chest for more than a year. It became noticeably worse during a rugby trip to watch the Six Nations in Edinburgh with his son Iestyn. He explained: "A lot of steep hills in Edinburgh and I was gasping for breath. The pains were particularly bad, really severe and my son Iestyn was mega concerned and probably a little bit scared as well, because I was. "He made me promise that as soon as I came home I went to see the doctor and one of the nurses said ‘99.9% certain that you have angina’." The man described having heart problems as being "debilitating" as he used to enjoy going for long walks but his condition was making him out breath just walking up the stairs. Whilst wearing an Ospreys rugby shirt he joked that he was "looking forward to being able to watch the rugby and doing a bit of shouting and cheering, because I haven’t been able to do that." He added: "I’ve had to go to the rugby and sit quietly whilst the Ospreys were scoring, and that’s not natural.” Scans revealed that Ceri had previously had a heart attack that he was unaware of and that two of the main arteries that supply blood to his heart were severely blocked leaving it damaged and weakened. If this had regressed any further then could have died, which showed the urgency of the operation, especially after the delays caused by the problems facing the NHS. Ceri, who is also a full time carer for his 92-year-old mother was concerned how his health was impacting her too. He explained: "She occasionally falls and I have to pick her up and put her back into bed, or back on to the chair where she’s fallen from and almost inevitably then I have an angina attack. “I think it’s really important for her that my operation goes well, I need to be back home looking after her basically.” As with all surgeries there are risks, but with surgery as invasive as this there would be an increased risk .But for Ceri, the benefits outweighed the risks. Before the surgery Ceri said he was nervous but also excited to get better “to start enjoying life again”. The type of surgery that Ceri needed would usually use a bypass machine, but in the programme the lead surgeon Dheeraj Mehta often uses a beating heart technique as it is less risky and allows patients to recover quicker. He is one of only 10 surgeons to regularly do beating heart surgery and hasn't used a bypass machine for over 15 years despite having one on hand just in case. It means he works around the beating heart rather than putting it on bypass, which can be more difficult but means an easier recovery for patients. After surgery Ceri said: "I’m feeling surprisingly better than I thought I would be. I’m not as short of breath as I was. I could have died yesterday, and that's the bottom line, and I didn't, so that's a reason to skip and dance already." In the programme Dheeraj expressed his frustration with the significant issues that face the NHS. He said: "Being the lead surgeon is a mixed bag of emotions, having challenges coming at you from every direction on a daily basis can be somewhat overwhelming." Stay informed on the latest health news by signing up to our newsletter here . He continued: "We have significant issues without surgical waiting lists, staffing, facilities, and any one of these can mean we are unable to undertake all the operations that we might be able to otherwise perform. It’s a real challenge but we must continue to work to resolve it." During the programme we see that over £172 million worth of improvements are needed across the health board. In Ceri’s instance, they were not sure if they were going to be able to proceed with the surgery as leaky roofs in the ICU meant that there were less beds, meaning his operation could be cancelled just minutes before he meant to go down. The surgeon continued: "At the end of the day it’s not cricket, we shouldn’t be dependent on the case of rain stops play, but sadly that’s the case in the NHS . I know we’re not alone in this experience, the infrastructures in certain hospitals around the country are very old and in need of repair, and this is the day-to-day reality of that." Dheeraj added: “To see a patient who has had bypass surgery sitting out of bed, engaging in normal conversation with people the morning after their surgery, is absolutely what my objective is with this beating heart approach.” Three weeks after his surgery, Ceri was discharged and returned to his home in Aberdare to care for his mother Enfys, who said she was “over the moon” to have him home. He said: "I was glad to get home, even though when I came home I could do next to nothing. Least I could see she was well, and coping with everything that was going on. As time goes past, I can do more and more."