And the building supervisor, who is now making steady progress at Brightwater Oats Street in East Victoria Park, is continuing to exceed expectations since the split-second decision to help someone outside a nightclub on March 3, 2013.
That decision left the "laidback" building supervisor the victim of a coward-punch that changed Mitch's and his family's lives the moment his head hit the pavement.
"I got the phone call at 3am" you never ever think it's going to happen to you," his mum Pippa said.
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READ NOW"He just went to pick up a very good friend working at a club; it happened in a split-second.
"Mitch had his hands by his side, he was punched and he just fell straight to the ground.
"He got to hospital within about four minutes and was rushed into surgery; they removed his skull just in time before he died."
Pippa said Mitch had defied the odds just by opening his eyes, with doctors saying it was unlikely he would wake from his coma.
"He was in intensive care and still had not woken up and we were there once again looking at the scans the neuros were showing us, shaking their heads," she said.
"They were saying two-thirds of Mitch's brain was damaged and this particular day, the neurologist said, "Look, he may not even wake up".
"We were so shocked by that and we all walked outside in silence. I was with my sisters at the time and we sat on the grass outside the church next to the hospital for about an hour and it was just like an unspoken thing, we decided that's not the way it was going to be."
A tight-knit team of 12 family members and friends developed a roster to ensure he was well supported.
For more about Mitch and his recovery, visit the Mitch Cleary community Facebook page.