Connecting Seniors
Don Mathewson (R)
Don Mathewson chose to return after five major health crises because purpose and the people around him made return possible.
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Don Mathewson doesn't see himself as a hero, more like a broken pot. A Queensland boy who lost his mother at twelve, he joined the Navy at fifteen and spent twenty-one years climbing the ranks, surviving a period of depression that threatened his career. After leaving at thirty-six to provide stability for his disabled son, he moved through roles in international aid and executive coaching, always driven by a need to help others uncover their values. Then, in his later years, he discovered competitive athletics. A middle-distance runner specializing in the 1500 metres, he became a world champion at World Masters Championships, competing internationally against runners half his age.
Then five major health crises struck. A subarachnoid brain hemorrhage while doing push-ups at home, three months before the 2013 World Championships in Brazil. A bike crash at thirty kilometres an hour that broke his pelvis in two places. A prostate cancer diagnosis. Eight months of excruciating lower back pain from a benign growth pressing on his nerve roots. Each time, Don faced the same thought: his running days were finished. Each time, he came back. What pulled him through was not the absence of pain, but a mental attitude that setbacks pass, just as depression passes. His competitiveness, which he didn't recognize in himself until others named it, became a tool for recovery. It drove him to follow medical advice with discipline, to train hard, and to return to what he loved. His friends gave him a name: the Man of Steel. But Don knows the real victory was always showing up, not winning. At seventy-eight, he still runs, still mentors, still teaches. And he listens to others without offering advice, because what people need is someone to hear them and say, that must have been hard.
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