‘WARNIE SAVED MY LIFE!’

A simple tribute to a cricket hero turned into a life-saving discovery

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Every morning on her way to work, Naomi Daley reaches down to tap a small stone beneath Shane Warne's statue and whispers, “Thanks Warnie.”

Naomi didn't just admire the king of spin for his ability to take out wickets - she says he literally bowled her a lifeline.

“I've been a huge Warnie fan for years because I loved the cricket era when he was playing with Mark Waugh,” Naomi, who works in hospitality at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, told Woman's Day.

“He was only a few years older than me, so when the free heart checks came about I thought I may as well go along and get the all-clear.”

But instead of the reassurance she was expecting, the test results turned Naomi's world upside down.

The mother-of-four says she was “knocked for six” when further tests revealed she had been living with a hole in her heart since birth, along with serious abnormalities in her veins and arteries.