A man who is best known for drawing attention to the condition of the roads in the Twillingate and Notre Dame Bay area fears he won’t survive the wait for needed heart surgery.

Ernest Barnes is also known as the “pothole man.” In recent years he took his motorcycle along the Road to the Isles, armed with spray paint cans to outline potholes and cracks that he deemed hazardous to drivers. Now he’s confined to his bed as he awaits surgery to correct some blockages and a problem with his heart valve.

He says most of the time he’s in bed, too tired to get up or even sit in a chair. There have been several times he’s suffered pains in his chest—and not known if that was it.

Most surgeries and procedures were postponed when the pandemic hit and regional health authorities are putting plans in place to get those procedures moving.

Barnes says he can’t get any answers as to when his surgery will go ahead, he hasn’t heard a word and says he’s “just waiting to pass away.”