The Sam Toomey story suggests that, while bad things happen to everyone around him, he gets away without a scratch from that car accident, etc. I think what Hurley takes from that story is that the person who used the numbers himself is generally safe from the bad luck--he just has to watch everyone else suffer. Now, he may be totally wrong, but I think that's what he believes, and that's why he kept being like, "No, dude, I can do it. I'm spry," etc.