MP won’t let health hurdles deter her

Kimberley MP Carol Martin says she is fighting fit and ready to defend her seat at the next State election.

Months battling health problems meant she missed more than a fifth of Parliamentary sitting days last year.

But there is one last hurdle – the Labor MP must lose several kilos before being allowed to undergo surgery on her liver, which has grown over her gall bladder.

“If I do this properly, I might not have to have the surgery,” she said.

Her health woes began when she finally quit smoking two years ago after 39 years. She had thought about quitting for a decade, but even when her daughter refused to let her hold her grandchildren after she’d smoked, she still puffed away.

She went cold turkey after going to India and staying in an ashram, she said.

“If you wanted a cigarette, you had to walk a couple of kilometres,” she said. “In the end, it got too much, so I stopped.”

Ms Martin said she had never been a heavy drinker, apart from the occasional glass of red.

However, she put on 24kg in just seven months after reaching for chocolate, lollies and soft drinks to satisfy cravings.

She developed hypertension, with cold sweats that made her fear she was on the verge of a stroke, as well as type 2 diabetes, knee pain and colon inflammation resulting from a long-term low-fibre diet. Fed up, she was spurred into action and between July and September lost 7kg.

After undergoing gallstone surgery in October, she returned to work in December. She has lost another 3kg by watching her diet.

She also takes daily hour-long walks with her daughter in Perth and jumps on the cross-trainer when she’s in Broome.

Ms Martin admitted the change in her lifestyle had been drastic, but it was needed as she was “over being sick”.

She claimed there was no available successor in the Labor Party for her Kimberley seat at this stage, so she planned to contest the next State election.

“Reclaiming my health has been a bit of a battle, but I’m feeling much better.

“I feel much healthier, I have more energy, I’m sleeping properly,” she said.