Sam Phayer has probably used up most of his luck - beating odds of one in a million. But he is not complaining.
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The 30-year-old is expecting the best Christmas present anyone could hope for - his first baby.
Mr Phayer's wife Samantha is due to give birth on Boxing Day.
However, 10 years ago Mrs Phayer was forced to contemplate the possibility her husband may not wake up from an induced coma.
He was rushed to hospital in Geelong and later Melbourne when doctors realised he had an enlarged heart.
Mr Phayer had been suffering from shortness of breath and a sore chest for about a week. Tests confirmed he had idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (known as DCM).
Up until then, doctors thought Mr Phayer had a virus.
While he was in the induced coma, his wife was told he needed a ventricular assist device (VAD) implanted to save his life.
The portable machine pumped blood through the left side of his enlarged and stretched heart.
Mr Phayer was believed to have been the first Warrnambool resident to have one implanted.
"I was in a coma for about a month," he said.
"I woke up with it."
Mr Phayer said it was a very scary time for his family.
"There were 120-odd beds in ICU and they told my family I was the sickest," he said.
Mr Phayer was told he would need to go on the waiting list for a heart transplant. Despite this he returned home and tried to live as normal life as possible - working part-time at Emmanuel College as a computer technician.
Mr Phayer had been told there was a one-in-one-million chance he would one day no longer need the VAD so he prepared himself for the prospect of one day needing a heart transplant.
He said he was feeling well and about five months after returning home, the VAD started to beep.
Mr Phayer, knowing the importance of it being fully operational 24/7, went straight to the hospital to have it checked out.
He was flown to Melbourne, where doctors made a startling discovery.
"My heart was fighting against the machine because I was starting to recover," Mr Phayer said.
Doctors performed dozens of tests to confirm whether Mr Phayer's heart had recovered.
It had. He had beaten the odds and his heart was the one in one million which had repaired itself.
Mr Phayer had the VAD removed and now relies on medication to control his DCM. He no longer suffers from shortness of breath and regularly goes to the gym.
Mr Phayer knows he is lucky to be alive.
"Without it I don't think I would be here," he said.
Mr Phayer is also grateful that he didn't have to get a heart transplant.
"Now I get that second chance to live a full life," he said.
He encouraged people to become organ donors to save a life.
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