Former Vice President Dick Cheney says his health is "nothing short of a miracle."

The heart transplant recipient says he now wakes up each morning "with a smile on my face, thankful for the gift of another day I never expected to see."

Cheney tells "Fox News Sunday" that he was "near death" when he received a battery-operated heart pump in 2011. Cheney says the pump kept him alive for 20 months until he received the transplant in 2012 at age 71.

Last year, Cheney signed a deal to write a book about his history of heart disease that includes five heart attacks - the first came at age 37 and the most recent was in 2010.