Matthew Zaffino

Always see the glass half full

I would say for the past 27 years I have been a cancer survivor and warrior, when I was 16 years old, I was the 2nd person in Western Australia to survive the Stem Cell Transplant when it was experimental at that stage. Now in today’s modern medicine, it has become a modern medicine breakthrough. Also, in my life for the past 20 years I have been battling with substance abuse in which now I have overcome and turned my life around, and still provide the support and caring nature of helping others and share my life experience on what I have done for myself.

When I was young through to my young adult years, people saw me as an inspiration of life and hope because I am always smiling and being happy, but it was within my heart I always followed my dream and that was to help others and learn how to reach to their dreams. I always followed the mythical story of “Pandora’s Box”, once you open the box you will release the emotional curses within yourself, but deep down there is one emotion that will bring you back, and that’s “HOPE”. Through that emotion, I began to break free from my curse of substance abuse, I was born to love again as I now love myself, both spiritually and unconditionally.

Through now in the present day, I still follow my dream and still help others, not just through the work I do, but also my everyday life whether it's walking on the streets meeting people, through hanging out with my friends sharing laughs over a coffee, to my family where we look after each other and always be there for one another.

Every day I wake and breathe in the fresh air, I look in the mirror, look at myself and smile, because I know today will be a good day for me and never look on the negative, “Always see the glass half full”. By bringing in positive vibes to myself, I can share those vibes to other people that need cheering up, inspiring, motivating, or a simple smile to their face to let the light shine in.