As he recovers from his recent transplant, the Narre Warren South former airport security guard considers himself lucky to be alive because he thought his life was over three years ago.

The Alfred hospital's statistics show that men are less likely than women to worry about their health and are at a higher risk of becoming ill with lifestyle-related diseases.

Mr O'Brien once smoked 50 cigarettes a day when he lived with type 2 diabetes, a condition he says he failed to manage and which contributed to the failure of his heart and kidneys. "My 30s were frightening years. I'm lucky to have survived. I could knock back a bottle of bourbon, not fall over and hold a conversation.

"When I won the prize for being the best drinker to hold his liquor I thought do I really want to be remembered for that?

"That was the turning point and I stopped my binge drinking but by the time I was 56, it all caught up with me. I had to say hang on, my life is finished. It came as quite a shock."

Mr O'Brien said medical tests discovered he had two heart attacks and he never knew it.

He could hardly walk by the end of last year but an unknown donor and the medical teams at The Alfred hospital gave him the best gift of all in January and extended his life.

"I'm gradually becoming stronger. I can't run, but can walk for half an hour.

"I tried to mow lawns but lasted half a minute.

Perhaps I'll get stronger so maybe I'll be able to do much more, like volunteer work."

Mr O'Brien said he had no regrets but perhaps he should have changed his lifestyle.

"I was married twice. You can't party and expect relationships to work. If I was bit smarter I would have settled and had children, but I can't say I regretted how I lived."

The Alfred hospital's booklet on men's health, Men and the Big C, was published for the hospital's appeal to raise money to purchase life-saving equipment.

To donate, call 1800888878 or visit www.fathersdayappeal.org.au