Facing the threat of death, a Nebraska man decided to no longer wait for the ambulance to come and performed a tracheotomy on himself, which, according to doctors, was very well done.

Steve Wilder of Omaha has previously suffered throat cancer and therefore, his throat is shrunken because of radiation treatments he underwent four years ago. On April 30, he woke up in the middle of the night, struggling to breathe.

His wife, Cora, immediately called an ambulance, but feeling he could not breathe anymore, the man went straight to the kitchen, picked up a steak knife and cut a hole in his throat, which allowed air to pass into his lungs.

The 55-year-old Wilder is not at his first tracheotomy performed on himself. He had another one done under similar circumstances in 2006, the Associated Press reports. He had his first tracheotomy performed by doctors in 2004.

He said seasonal allergies might be the cause for his allergies. “They think I might have some kind of allergy. The only time I get a shortage of wind is in the spring. It’s seasonal,” he said.

An Immanuel Medical Center spokeswoman said federal medical privacy law prevents her from commenting on Wilder’s situation.

Wilder is expected to make a full recovery after his physician inserted a tube in his throat the next day and gave him antibiotics to prevent a possible infection. Once healed, Wilder will be able to speak normally.