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Jets rookie returns from open-heart surgery, gets 'a second chance at life'

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Xavier Coleman grabbed his gray New York Jets minicamp T-shirt at the neckline and pulled it down to reveal the middle of his chest. And there it was, a six-inch vertical scar -- pinkish in color, visibly raised above the skin.

"It's kind of hard to miss," the rookie cornerback said Friday, laughing.

The scar tells a remarkable story, which began more than seven years ago in Portland, Oregon.

Coleman, an emerging high school star, fainted in a religion class. He fainted again a few days later in the shower, and soon he was in a doctor's office being told his football career was over and that no college would want him to play sports.