I’m lucky to be here. Now I want to help others battling to beat cancer
FIGHT GOES ON FOR STRICKEN STAR MATTEO
DOMINIC MATTEO is still fighting a daily battle almost two years on from the shock brain tumour diagnosis that changed his life.
In November 2019, the exliverpool, Leeds and Scotland defender underwent a sevenhour operation after a routine check-up led to the discovery of a large malignant growth.
He recalled: “I was scared, I didn’t know what was going on. The day earlier I was working on TV and then the next day I was fighting for my life and I didn’t know why.”
Matteo, 47, was just one of two people in Europe with an incredibly rare form of brain cancer called Anaplastic Ependymoma.
And, while his short-term prospects were improved by surgery, his fight with the disease is far from over.
Struggles
He said: “I still can’t read and write and can’t drive – I can’t do too much at the minute.
“It’s like being a child again but obviously having people around you who have been through it and tell you how to get past it and different ways to live your life, that helps.”
Matteo’s struggles with cancer has not prevented him from forming a charity aimed at helping the less fortunate, including those suffering with similar health issues.
The idea came about as a result of meeting Dave Bolton, a brain tumour sufferer who is seven years on from a diagnosis that typically comes with a 1218 month life expectancy.
A former police officer and kickboxing world champion, Bolton not only helped Matteo come to terms with his cancer but also inspired him to help others.
Matteo added: “I think we came together for a reason. When you meet somebody for the first time, it’s sometimes hard to get an impression straight away, but with me and Dave we connected. We don’t mind talking about tough situations.
“If we can help other people through it, that helps us. When they say all the facts about how long you’ve got to live, me and Dave don’t listen to them. I don’t believe in that and Dave is similar.
“We do have bad days, we all do. But we’ve got coping mechanisms now and hopefully we can inspire other people
to have them.
Treatment
“We’ll never be out of treatment, me and Dave, unless some miracle cure comes about, which I believe might happen.”
The pair’s Ahead of the Game Foundation was launched this week at a golf day held at Caldy Golf Club on the Wirral, and saw the likes of Robbie Fowler, Paul Dickov, John Aldridge and Micky Gray tee-off in aid of their old friend.
Matteo and Bolton (left) helped raise more than £25,000 to promote medical research into brain tumours, which remain the deadliest cancer in people under 40.
And he admits he gets a kick out of giving back to others after being helped through the most difficult years of his life.
“I feel like sometimes you get your rewards in life if you help someone,” Matteo said. “It doesn’t always work that way, but I feel it’s like karma, I believe in that.
“If we can help a few people and help ourselves along the way, that’s what life’s all about.”