From dope to hope: One man's journey to sobriety

For Jody Mathews, “rock bottom” was a three-day bender in Daytona Beach last summer. It was driving from the coast to Winter Garden and not remembering how got here. It was having his leg amputated a week later. It was being isolated in the hospital during COVID.

He learned that once you’ve reached rock bottom, the only way out is up. June 22, 2020, is the day Mathews reclaimed his life.

For the past 13 months, Mathews — who lives in Winter Garden and is a lifelong West Orange County resident — has remained sober. He stopped drinking for one day. And then another. And another. Days became weeks, which then became months. He celebrated one year of sobriety June 22, and he wants to tell his story.

Or, more accurately, he needs to tell it.

SLIPPERY SLOPE

The drinking started in high school, said Mathews, a 1995 West Orange High graduate.

“It really took off in college,” Mathews said. “My first year, I started drinking, did a little bit of weed. I got home and bought like a half ounce of weed and started selling weed a little bit. I started making $200 in one day. It just escalated into buying half-pounds and pounds. Then that led to cocaine, ecstasy.”

Somewhere during the buying and selling, Mathews tried the drugs.

“It went back and forth like that for years,” he said. “Then it became less about selling and more about having it. And then I needed alcohol.

“You drink, and then to counterbalance being drunk, you take cocaine,” he said.

“I was a ticking timebomb; I’m just lucky to be alive.”

Mathews became a regular fixture at the bar and liquor store in downtown Winter Garden. In 2008, he called prison home for a brief time after a DUI arrest. There would be more DUI arrests in subsequent years.

Despite being an alcoholic, he was able to maintain a job, and when his driver’s license wasn’t revoked, he was driving trucks for several big companies and traveling the country in his own 18-wheeler.

He sold his big rig and sought employment locally after he got custody of his two sons in 2013.

The drinking continued, especially after he started experiencing pain in his left leg in 2015.

“I wouldn’t take pain medication; I would drink heavily,” he said. “I was a basket case for years. I don’t know how I didn’t kill anyone all those years.”

Mathews would endure 16 surgeries on his leg following a diagnosis of osteomyelitis, and he never worked a solid year after that because of the frequent PICC lines in his veins needed to deliver high doses of antibiotics. He was headed for amputation.

ROCK BOTTOM

He decided he had had enough June 16, 2020, after being told he was going to lose his leg, and he wanted to end his life in Daytona Beach.

“I ended up praying for four days. I asked God if he had a plan for me. … He brought me through it, and I started getting better.”

“I had no focus on life,” Mathews said. “I had lost my girlfriend, I had no drive to live, my doctors were telling me they wanted to amputate my leg. …  I remember going to the liquor store that day and saying, ‘I’m not going to make it, man.’ I just didn’t care. … I didn’t want to be here anymore.

“I didn’t want to shoot myself, so I thought I would drink myself to sleep,” he said.

That didn’t happen. He doesn’t know what came next after the heavy drinking, but he knows he passed out and awoke several times in various Daytona parks over the course of a few days — and he managed to drive back to Winter Garden.

At this point, the osteomyelitis in his leg was getting worse and he was admitted to the hospital. He had sepsis and his kidneys were shutting down.

On June 28, Mathews’ left leg was amputated below the knee.

“I ended up praying for four days,” Mathews said. “I asked God if He had a plan for me. … He brought me through it, and I started getting better.”

A month later, he lost his job.

He was fitted for a prosthesis, and 100 days later, he took his first steps at home with a walker.

“I totally learned patience,” he said. ‘My spirituality was really strong, and I knew that I had a purpose.”

Now on disability, he spends his time trying to help others.

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Alcoholics Anonymous saved Mathews. At one point he was going twice a day.

“At the beginning of sobriety, your mind’s going a million miles an hour, and I’m saying, ‘I have to not stop at the liquor store,’” he said. “When you become sober, you’re a badass. It’s not easy to get sober and stay sober. A lot of people are going through pain and say, ‘I need a drink.’

“I just take it one day at a time,” he said. “I like helping people. I’m no problem-solver; I just listen.”

Prayer has gotten Mathews far in his journey with sobriety. He said he has a great deal for which to be thankful, and that includes his relationship with his parents, Danny and Pat, and his sons, Hunter and Logan.

“When you become sober, you’re a badass. It’s not easy to get sober and stay sober. A lot of people are going through pain and say, ‘I need a drink.’”

“My parents have always been there for me — through the rough times and through the great times,” Mathews said. “They never left my side. They showed tough love. They showed 100% support, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”

There is a sense of pride that comes with the success of sobriety, and Mathews can attest to that.

“What’s cool is they always said, ‘People will see your actions and they won’t listen to what you say,’” he said. “My actions now speak louder than my words for the first time in my life. … I will be a light for God and for Jesus and for my family, and I want people to (say), ‘Man, if Jody can do it, I can too.’

“I woke up and stayed sober, and the next day I woke up and stayed sober — one day at a time,” he said.

As a reminder to himself, he wrote on his Facebook page: “All I have to do is be sober today. (I’ll) worry about tomorrow when it gets here.”

SOBER IS SWAGGY

There are many pieces to Mathews’ saving grace: the power of God and prayer; his parents and sons; Apollo, the family’s Blue-Nose Pitbull; AA and his sponsor, Joe Staley; and his creation of Sober is Swaggy — three little words he wrote down and showed a friend during an AA meeting.

He has created merchandise such as T-shirts, shorts, hats and bracelets, and they are for sale on soberisswaggy.com.

He has grown quite a fan base with #SoberIsSwaggy, and he hopes to grow the brand one day make it a full-time job, taking his story to prisons and sharing his path to sobriety.

He has shared his story at AA meetings and on Facebook and in a friend’s podcast.

“That’s what keeps me going — to see the guys I’ve brought in the circle and see them (do well). It’s a transformation I love to see. Sober is Swaggy keeps me locked in my sobriety and keeps me doing what I need to do and help the next person. I can’t solve problems, but I can lend a hand.”

Mathews said he will speak with anyone needing to talk. He can be reached on his two Facebook pages: Jody Mathews or Sober is Swaggy. He also has a website: soberisswaggy.com.

“I just want to be able to help people fight addiction and drugs, to be the help to someone who’s down and out,” he said. “Nothing’s too big, nothing’s too small. I’m very overwhelmed and blessed.

“The more sober you get, the more honest you get, and the more honest you get … you see who you are. I truly have a big heart. Even when I was doing bad, I had my good moments.”