Cameron Daddo has a new lease on life after a harrowing brush with death. 

The Australian actor, 60, has revealed the chilling moment doctors told him a CT scan for a ‘tummy issue’ had unearthed three hidden aneurysms that would have otherwise only been discovered ‘post-mortem’. 

The beloved television star, who has been married to model Alison Brahe for a staggering 33 years, now has a whole new perspective on his recent milestone birthday. 

Daddo, who recently turned 60, initially sought medical attention for what he believed was a simple parasite-related ‘tummy issue’. 

Little did he know, the routine scan would uncover a ticking time bomb within his body.

‘Sobering words when delivered by your specialist,’ Daddo told The Daily Telegraph, recounting the moment doctors delivered the shocking news. 

‘They told me if they hadn’t found them when they did, they would have only been found post-mortem.’

In February, Daddo underwent a complex surgery to insert stents, designed to improve blood flow from his heart to his legs. 

What was initially planned as a three-stent procedure quickly escalated into a ten stent ordeal, leaving the actor fighting for his life in intensive care for several days. 

‘There was a scare last year – and I mean classic timing,’ Daddo revealed.

‘It was detected by accident.’ 

The beloved actor explained that his femoral arteries were riddled with several aneurysms, discovered only during a CT scan for an unrelated ‘tummy issue’. 

This tummy issue was caused by ingesting contaminated beach water, leading to a parasite infection. 

‘There was no reason for me to go to the doctor other than I had a sore belly – but that was because I had a parasite because I ingested dirty water at the beach,’ he said.

‘The GP, bless him, he picked it up, sent me to a specialist.  The specialist said “You have to get these aneurisms taken care of because there’s a good chance you may not make it through next year.”‘

Cameron and his wife Alison, who share three now adult children together, have been married for 33 years.

The host of Luxury Escapes is a prolific actor known for his starring roles in films and TV series like Inland Empire, Home and Away, Hope Island, and NCIS: Los Angeles.

But in 1990, Daddo, despite being ‘well on [his] way to enjoying’ that long career, was starstruck by his future wife.

‘At the time, it felt like Ali was omnipresent as the cover girl queen of Dolly, Cleo and Cosmo magazines,’ he writes in the book.

‘It seemed liked every newsagent had a poster out the front with her megawatt smile and sparkling eyes.

A magazine photographer asked Daddo if he’d met her and arranged their eventual meeting in a nightclub.

‘I was instantly struck by her sparkling aura; she confessed she’d had couple of vodka tonics. We chatted for an hour and I promised to call her the next day – which I did. I don’t think we spent many days apart after that,’ he recalls.

‘After almost 33 years of marriage, I am so grateful and fortunate to walk with Ali. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And her laugh is still one of the most pleasing things I know.