LUDLOW Mathison is on a mission to inspire people to take better care of their health, following two close calls with potentially debilitating and fatal conditions.

When the Jamaica Observer caught up with 59- year-old Mathison at the St Thomas Eastern Constituency Long Service and Awards Recognition Ceremony on January 22, he shared that his mandate is to ensure he uses every opportunity on his watch to share his battle with illness and how he overcame.

“In 2015, I got a stroke and I could not walk, and look at me here now this afternoon. In 2016 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and now I am cancer-free.

I never know I could come up and have cancer. I used to represent this parish (St Thomas) in track and field and in football. I never know I could have cancer or get a stroke.

I never feel sick when I got the stroke. I never feel sick when I have the cancer, but it’s just one day I went and did a test.

I know when you do a test and the doctor call you before your appointment that means something is wrong.

When I went to the doctor, he turned to me and said the result doesn’t look good. So I said what next?

He said I had to do a biopsy, and I can tell you, my brothers and sisters, I never felt sick. I just want to say to you — check yuh self,” Mathison said to a captivate audience that included 55 senior citizens who were being rewarded for work with the People’s National Party in the constituency.

During an interview with the Sunday Observer, Mathison said that prior to both periods of illness, he had been living a normal life, doing his political duties, and playing his role as the family man.

However, Mathison, councillor for the Bath Division in the St Thomas Municipal Corporation, said one morning while in office he realised that something felt “very wrong”.

“I was the mayor at the time, [and] I realise that I was continuously leaning to my right side, and I tried to sit up straight but I continued leaning. I drank some water, got some fruits, and I felt normal again,” he said.

But, two days later, Mathison said the feeling resurfaced, this time he was taken to the hospital where he underwent a series of tests and was found to have suffered a mild stroke.

“I was ordered not to move by the nurse, as she said I may fall and hurt myself, but I tried walking and the nurse saw me and tek mi on and I said ‘nurse I walk come into the hospital, I have to walk out back’. I got discharged from the hospital in eight weeks time. I used to walk slow, then days and days after I picked up speed,” he said, reiterating that though all was not well he never felt sick.

The following year, Mathison said, he decided to check his prostate, and after the results of the Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Test returned, he was once again plunged into a familiar place of ill-health and uncertainty. However, he remained positive.

“When he [doctor] said the PSA reading doesn’t look good, I still never felt sad. He said I had to do a biopsy and I went to America and did the biopsy and realised I had stage two prostate cancer,” he said.

With regards to treatment, Mathison did the robotic prostatectomy — a minimally invasive procedure where the prostate is removed through keyhole incisions.

What followed would include a changed diet in the removal of meat and sugar from his meals. In addition, he incorporated more exercise.

Further, Mathison said he remains committed to spreading his story wherever he goes to ensure people do not take their health lightly.

“I share my testimony across the island. My mission is to inspire and empower people to look after their health,” he said.