But the 60 year-old has to face up to the fact that he may have just two years to live unless a new heart is found for him.

Mr Bruce is one of 116 patients from the area waiting for a new organ to enable him to live a normal life again.
The News reported yesterday that 23 people locally have died while waiting for a transplant in the past five years. There are 214,559 local people on the list but more are needed.

And Mr Bruce is urging readers to join the organ donation register.

Three years ago he was struck down with a virus that attacked his heart, leaving the left side enlarged, a condition called left ventricular dilated cardiomyopathy.

He is now so ill that at times he cannot even lift a blanket because he is so weak.

He has been told that 25 per cent of patients with his condition live for only five years.

Mr Bruce, of Sunningdale Road, Portchester, said: 'That is not very good odds.

'I have to just sit and wait because there is nothing else I can do.

'In a sense, I'm waiting for someone else to die so that I can get a new heart.'

He has to take a cocktail of drugs to get by and has been told he cannot fly abroad because doctors do not know how his heart will cope with the change in air pressure.

He said: 'At the moment I can walk only about 400 yards. After that I'm worn out for the rest of the day.

'You just live every day hoping that you will get the call to say they have found a match.'

He has been given huge support by his 55-year-old wife, Pamela, his two daughters and four grandchildren. He has not been able to work since being made redundant from his job as a manufacturing manager in 2005.