He was at the Sea World resort in Gold Coast in February when former Australia batsman and head coach, Darren Lehmann, felt some discomfort in his chest. "I was having cold sweats, and it felt like someone was pushing down on top of my chest," Cricbuzz quoted him as saying. "So we rang the medical officer of where I was staying and they got the ambulance straight there." 

As it turned out, the problem needed a triple bypass surgery, which Lehmann underwent on his 50th birthday, a day later on the 5th of February, fearing he might never age 51. 

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Thankfully it all went well, well enough for Lehmann to gradually recover and open up on the life-changing experience thereafter. 

"Not knowing what was wrong... it's always the not knowing (that's hardest); once you know, it's okay - you start to get some answers, start to get some confidence from the surgeons and the nurses."

Lehmann, who was holidaying at the time, had three blockages in blood vessels in the heart. He was first treated at a nearby private hospital before being transported to Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital, which is where he was successfully operated by Dr Peter Tresar.

The scars from the surgery are still visible - on the inside of each forearm and down his chest - but the 50-year-old is slowly but surely getting back to normal routine with his life, something he thanks his wife Andrea, elder son Jake, and two young twin siblings, Amy and Ethan, for. 

"I'm feeling better now, but still quite sore in the chest at times," he said. "You hope everything's healing, and you have good days and really bad days, and you pick and choose how you deal with them. You speak through it with different people, and my family is always there."

Lehmann, who played 27 Tests and 117 ODIs, shall better be remembered for the good than the bad, his batting and a coaching career where he oversaw a successful World Cup campaign, rather than as a man who let the 2018 ball-tampering incident happen under his eyes. 

"I love the blokes - the players and all the staff I worked with... and when you leave, it's sad," he said, without going towards the Cape Town mishappening. "Life goes on, but you remember the great times, the great people. Hopefully, I played my small part in those cricketers becoming better people. I still talk to them now, make sure they're OK, their families... that's the main thing."

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)