Inspiring moment: Cricket great Chris Cairns reaches major milestone as he recovers from a stroke, heart attack and bowel cancer that nearly killed him.

New Zealand cricket great Chris Cairns has made great strides in his recovery from a stroke and heart attack after sharing an update on social media on Monday.

Cairns, 53, has been wheelchair-bound after suffering a stroke following catastrophic heart failure due to an aortic dissection, which is a tear in the inner layer of the main artery.

A few months later he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Cairns has been very open about showing his recovery, posting several videos in recent months, and on Monday he took to Instagram to show off his inspiring progress.

The former all-rounder can be seen walking alone with crutches outside his home, before using only a cane.

“Believing…always believing…”, he posted along with the hashtags “notdoneyet” and “howyouendure.”

Cairns underwent multiple surgeries, rehabilitation and chemotherapy over a brutal 12 months, and reflected on her ordeal last year.

‘I’m no different from anyone else… there’s no secret recipe. It’s a choice, fundamentally,” he told the Between Two Beers podcast. ‘The human race is endowed with a mental ability that allows it to choose its reaction to any situation.

‘That’s the most important thing you have and sometimes people don’t take advantage of that. It’s easy to be a victim, easier for it to be someone else’s fault… to have bad luck.

‘I just never had that mentality. Maybe it was through cricket or other things in my life… that aspect of choice is always the most important.

‘Of course, I’ll burst into tears or feel terrible, but I quickly try to get over that. The key things in all of this are choice and purpose.’