On Wednesday, Mathew opened up about his breast cancer diagnosis and how the health scare impacted his family. "I had my [mastectomy] surgery the last week of July, and now I’m doing all the stuff for recovery," he toldGood Morning America host Michael Strahan.
The 67-year-old told Strahan he contacted his doctor after he and his wife, Gena, noticed a small dots of blood on his white t-shirts and bedding.
"The first call was to my family. That was the very first call, because this is genetics," he said. "It also means that my kids have a higher chance, a higher risk. Even my grandkids have a higher risk. They handled it like they should — they went on and got the test."
The proud father and granddad now says he's "doing really good" and attributes his wellness to eliminating alcohol and exercising regularly. "I just wanted to have a clean bill of health," he stated.
His hopes for speaking out, which happens to come during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is to let "folks know that you can survive this, but it has to be early detection. I can't over emphasize the word early.'"
Mathew added, "I learned that the numbers that we have for men on breast cancer are not adequate because we don’t have enough men that come forward that take the exam."
In the end, Mathew's story encouraged Strahan, whose own brother was treated for breast cancer in 2015, to get his blood tested. Watch the full interview to learn more about breast cancer in men ahead.
