ANGELO Tigano, 50, is pale, bone-thin and weak from hours of surgery and years of suffering.

But the Fairfield man is alive - something he didn't expect two weeks ago.

His sister described him as someone who ''didn't have much life left in him'' and his surgeon said he was a ''man who was nearly dead''.

But on Monday, Mr Tigano told media that he was ''feeling great'' and couldn't wait to eat a bowl of pasta with his family.

He is the first person in the southern hemisphere to receive a total artificial heart implant.

Thirteen days ago he underwent surgery at St Vincent's Hospital to have his deteriorating heart replaced with a mechanical one.

The former education worker has been suffering total heart failure for more than 10 years.

His doctors selected him for the five-hour surgery because without it they thought he would die in less than a month.

''From nothing to being well, and I feel well, it's embarrassing how well I feel,'' Mr Tigano said as he recovered.

''My mum's pasta and hopefully watching some footy,'' he said when asked what he was looking forward to.

His older sister Nina Sgro told the Champion that her brother had earlier given up hope. Now his family is preparing for his homecoming, she said.

''It's a miracle because he was really bad and he didn't have much life left in him,'' she said.

''He is eating and walking and he is so grateful to wake up to life.

''We're very grateful to God and to the hospital and the nurses and everyone. We have all been through a lot.''

The mechanical heart is driven by an air pump that has to be connected to a power supply.

This means that Mr Tigano has to wear a backpack or be connected to a trolley to keep his heart beating.

Head of the hospital's heart and lung transplant unit, Phillip Spratt, said the surgery was a ''bridge to transplant''.

The heart will allow Mr Tigano to live a normal life while he waits for a donor heart.

''At any one time there can be around 30 people waiting for a heart transplant at our hospital,'' Dr Spratt said.

''The total artificial heart has no equal.

''[It] replaces both the left and right heart ventricles which are responsible for pumping blood.''

Mr Tigano's new heart will keep 9.5 litres of blood flowing through his body each minute.

He is expected to leave the hospital in the next week.