NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After the ups and downs of the last few years, a man tells us how grateful he is to be here telling his story. In fact, he tells us he's found a way to share some of his good fortune.
"And this is another thing from when I was a kid," said Jim Neidhoefer, showing a DVD of Sealab 2020.
A collector of all things cool, that's Jim Neidhoefer. See the full collections in the player above.
"I consider myself to be a geek," he smiled, standing in a room full of DVDs and books. "I love all the standard kind of geeky things. 'Star Wars.' I love 'Planet of the Apes.'"
There's something in particular Jim collects that carries deep meaning. To understand it, you need to know Jim's story. A serious problem with a heart valve led to an open heart surgery.
"It was very scary," Jim said. "It was terrifying. Being surrounded by people and being able to have that surgery at Vanderbilt makes me super lucky."
Thirteen months after that surgery, Jim returned to competitive swimming, placing in the top ten of several events at the U.S. Masters Swimming Nationals.
"I definitely think going through that surgery has made me appreciate every single day a lot more and realize how lucky I am — how lucky I've always been," Jim said.
Luck keeps coming up in Jim's story. It's linked to that other collection he has. It's of lucky four-leaf clovers.
"I still think it looks pretty cool," Jim said, looking at a dozens of four-leaf clovers he's framed. "It's generally accepted that it's one out of 10,000 clovers will be a four-leaf. Sometimes you'll look and not find one. Sometimes you look and find them right away."
"Because of that song that he did called '5 Leaf Clover,' this is something I made for Luke Combs," Jim continued, showing a framed piece he'd created made out of rare clovers. "Hopefully, I get the chance to give that to him someday. The words of the song are about understanding how lucky we are. It really helped me bring things back into perspective, how lucky I've been."
With his collecting, Jim wants to share that luck.
"My favorite thing to do is to give them to people," said Jim. "I have no idea how many I've given away, but it's several hundred. I've definitely learned a lot, and I'm a different person having gone through all those things. I do feel like one of the luckiest people that I know, for sure."
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