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A millionaire businessman gave away his multi-million-dollar fortune to improve the lives others after a car accident that landed him in jail led him to meeting the love of his life.

When Mazzi Dumato a 38-year-old from Damascus, Syria, who grew up in Brazil and Dubai, was in a five-car pileup in his brand new $150,000 (£120,000) Ferrari, he decided it was time to re-evaluate his playboy lifestyle and go traveling.

It was then that the former playboy met his wife, Milena, and was inspired to spend his $3million (£2.5million) fortune on his family's medical bills and charitable ventures.

Now Dumato, who, earned his millions through web design, marketing and real estate companies in Dubai, lives in South America, where he and Milena stay in either his VW adventure wagon or sleep in their restaurant or shop.

When Mazzi Dumato a 38-year-old from Damascus, Syria, was in a five-car pileup in Dubai in his brand new £120,000 Ferrari, he decided it was time to re-evaluate his lifestyle

It was then that the former playboy met his wife, Milena (pictured above with Dumato), and was inspired to spend his $3million (£2.5million) fortune on his family's medical bills and charitable ventures. Now Dumato lives in South America, where he and Milena stay in either his VW adventure wagon or sleep in their restaurant or shop

When Milena developed breast cancer and had to have a double mastectomy and bone marrow transplant, he spent $700,000 on her treatment.

During her recovery, Dumato and Melina decided to fund a cancer prevention centre in Florianopolis, Brazil, and a property for families of cancer patients to live in.

He spent a total of $1million on properties, which he also rents out and uses the money for his charities. 

He used the remainder of his fortune on medical bills for strangers and on treatments for his wife and own brother-in-law. 

'Basically, I gave away all my money,' he explained. 'When I left Dubai I had about $3m. I spent around $1m on property and the last $2m went on hospital bills for my wife's cancer and car accident and for her brother's brain tumour which he's still in hospital for.

'With that money, we set up an intensive care unit in Florianopolis where he is going to be moved to. He is the last living member of her family so when he needed the surgery there was no doubt I would help him.'

Dumato credits the accident and meeting his wife as turning points in his life that led him from the playboy life to his more humble path.

'I bought a Ferrari and I thought I had achieved everything I wanted to achieve,' he said. 'I started partying and two weeks later I got into a car accident and I was in a five-car pileup. I fell asleep and ended up under a pickup truck.'

Prior to moving to South America, Dumato (pictued above with unidentified women) lived in Dubai, where he lived a playboy lifestyle

Dumato said that he thought he 'had achieved everything' when he bought his Ferrari, but two weeks later he got into a five-car pileup

Following the accident, he was taken to jail, where he ran into his good friend's father.

'That morning in jail, the first person I met there was someone that I knew fifteen years ago,' he said. 'He was the father of one of my good friends in high school. I remember I always looked up to him as he had five cars and a was a big businessman in Dubai.

'This guy arranged for me to have a mattress and a pillow. and I remember I sat on that, and thought, "this is all I have right now". Taken away this freedom and all I had was this mattress and pillow and I was just like everyone else in here.

'I wasn't that big shot Mazzi that I thought I was the whole time. It was an incredible realisation.'

Upon his release from jail, he was unsure what he wanted to do with his life so he decided to go traveling, where he ended up meeting his now-wife.

'A year after I left Dubai I was in a club in Brazil one night and overhear this woman talking about Africa,' he recalled. 'She was volunteering in the Congo shortly after she had come out of hospital for leukaemia.

'She decided that she was going to go and help people. She volunteered at the UN and they sent her to the Congo where she spent a year and could have relapsed at any time.

'I met this woman just after she had come back and she's now my wife Milena who has inspired me tremendously at the time. We moved in together and we started to think what we could do.' 

Dumato credits the accident and meeting his wife as turning points in his life that led him from the playboy life to his more humble path

Dumato, pictured in his partying days, said he met his wife, Milena, a year after he left Dubai and started traveling in South America

Dumato says he 'gave away' his fortune, spending it on medical bills for strangers and on treatments for his wife and brother-in-law

Dumato and Milena decided to donate money to a charity in the Dominican Republic, but after visiting Haitian refugees with his wife he realised that people need his time, not necessarily his money.

'This woman really touched so many people from the youngest babies to the oldest people in the village,' he said of his wife. 'Everybody loved her, not because of the money she gave them but because of her time.

'This is when I realised that charity is not about money. It's about giving your time truly in service to others. We realised that we cannot give our money to charity and we should be doing our own charity.'

In a tragic turn of events, Milena developed breast cancer and had to have a double mastectomy and bone marrow transplant.

Dumato spent around $700,000 on her treatment and was inspired to find alternative treatments.

'The doctor treating Milena was setting up a cancer prevention centre and the adjacent property was available,' he added.

'I bought the land and my deal was that 50 per cent of the cancer prevention centre's income would go to providing the service for free to people who couldn't afford the treatments.

'We have about nine properties in total. They all have incredible stories. Not all are turned into centres. Our cancer prevention centre will be ready by the end of 2017.

During Milena's recovery from cancer, Dumato and Melina decided to fund a cancer prevention centre in Florianopolis, Brazil, and a property for families of cancer patients to live in. Pictured above is one of the properties Dumato has bought

Dumato has bought up nine properties, many of which - like the one pictured above - are used for treatment centres. He uses rental properties to generate income to fund the centres

Dumato believes everyone should access to free healthcare and aims to help as much as he can with his treatment centres (one of his properties pictured above)

'We have the healing centre which is already operational. We bought a house next to a leukaemia hospital in Curitiba where my wife was treated. We've put in 32 beds and we will provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for family members of hospital patients.

'A lot of people come from outside and have nowhere to sleep. I have a coffee farm in Panama and the rest are rental properties to generate income to go to the centres and pay for hospital bills for her brother who is sick now.'

Dumato believes everyone should access to free healthcare and aims to help as much as he can. He has set up a company to sell unique items from around the world with the aim of generating money to fund his charitable ventures.

'I believe everyone should have free healthcare, especially when you're paying taxes for it,' he said. 'There is free healthcare in Brazil but it's really bad. There are videos on YouTube where people die in waiting rooms waiting to be attended to by doctors.

'Spice of My People sells high-end products such as jewellery, medicinal products, herbal mixtures and teas from different parts of the world.

'What I wanted to do with my centres was to produce these products ourselves.

'So now with this shop I realise there are so many medicinal herbs in this region that now we creating our own mixtures where we can eventually have the products of Spice of my People being used to treat people at our centres in Brazil and maybe even have centres here in South America that will be able to do that.'

Dumato's efforts to help people across South America have saw him spend his vast fortune and he now lives in either his VW adventure wagon or sleeps in his restaurant or shop.