Terry Killeavy tells his story on BBC Radio 5's Drivetime show

When he visited his doctor he discovered he had a potentially fatal hole the size of a 50p piece in his heart and was referred for open heart surgery.

Terry Killeavy, an accountant from Nottingham, said he had his darts prize to thank for his life.

"I won a stethoscope, quite a bizarre prize, in a charity darts evening in my local pub," he said.

Useful prize

After the match he played with his prize and noticed that his heart was missing a beat.

"I had a go, and you did not have to be a rocket scientist to realise that there was something fundamentally wrong," Mr Killeavy said.

Two weeks later he went to the doctors.

"I was almost in a blind panic at times, and thought 'I will have to do something about this'.

"So I went along and basically told the GP how it came about and the GP confirmed what I had said," he said.

Open heart surgery

The doctor referred Mr Killeavy to Glenfield Heart Hospital where he received open heart surgery to fix the condition.

The charity darts night saved his life, he said.

"At these events people bring along a whole host of wild and wonderful things, and I won that, and there for the grace of God go I."