Keith Broadfoot was an active guy in his late 20s in the midst of training for a triathlon when he started feeling a strange pain in his sides.
He figured the uncomfortable sensation would wear off and went for a 160km bike ride.
When it didn't, he asked his neighbour to drive him to the hospital.
He was having a heart attack.
"I woke up the next morning in the intensive care unit," the now 34-year old told AAP of the event in late 2013.
The attack came as a complete surprise to Mr Broadfoot, who had no obvious major risk factors for a cardiac event.
He didn't smoke, drank modestly and didn't have any family history of heart disease.
"I was probably a bit arrogant in that I thought I was bulletproof."
It was later discovered Mr Broadbent had a small hole in his heart that may have facilitated the movement of a troublesome blood clot.
But the experience showed the accountant there is still a lot that isn't known about heart disease and why it impacts who it does.
"There's just so much that's not known out there," Mr Broadfoot said.
The federal government is hoping to fill some of those knowledge gaps, and prevent more people such as Mr Broadfoot experiencing heart attacks, through a $220 million funding windfall.
The money will go towards cardiovascular disease research, particularly projects aimed at enabling earlier diagnosis of heart conditions and improving outcomes for Australians who have had a stroke or a heart attack.
The funding will be drawn from the Medical Research Future Fund and rolled out over a decade.
The development comes after the federal government committed on Sunday to funding heart health checks at general practice doctor clinics, at a cost of $170 million over five years
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the amount being spent is unprecedented and will pave the way for "game-changing discoveries".
"Our government is deeply committed to tackling Australia's biggest killer - heart disease," he said.
One Australian dies of cardiovascular disease every 12 minutes, with one person in Australia experiencing a heart attack or stroke every five minutes.
That amounts to about 43,500 deaths from cardiovascular disease in Australia each year.
Labor has matched the coalition government's heart checks pledge.
