Life With Mesothelioma: Golf, Gastronomy & Getting Published
Stories From Survivors
Written by Travis Rodgers | Edited by Amy Edel
Two years after his peritoneal mesothelioma diagnosis, Michael Riso still spends most of his days on the golf course, teaching. When he’s not there, he’s writing. He’s 65, still teaching every day, and largely living on his own terms.
His only treatment beyond regular abdominal drainage has been a partial omentectomy, which kept him in the hospital for 12 days. Since then, he’s seen measurable improvements and developed a clear sense of how he wants to spend his energy.
He’s been intentional about conserving it since his mesothelioma diagnosis. He hired a pool company, a handyman and a lawn service, not out of necessity, but because he’d rather spend the money than spend the energy on tasks that pull him away from teaching and writing.
Help came from other directions too, often without him asking. Friends and neighbors showed up with food, cut his lawn and cleaned his pool. Michael tried not to lean too heavily on anyone, but the support meant more than he expected.
He carried another kind of weight through much of this. Just under a year ago, Michael lost his wife, Nancy, to ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She had been his partner through his diagnosis and treatment, even as her own health was declining.
Working With Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Co-Creator on His Own Book
Michael is also finishing a book: Finding Joy in Daily Living: 72 Simple Ways to Create Lasting Peace in Your Life. Each of the 72 chapters covers a single concept, with words like acceptance, perception and persistence. He describes it as a guide built from his own life, not a set of instructions for anyone else’s.
He’s working with Jack Canfield, the co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and his marketing team. They’ve been coaching Michael on how to shape the book for a wide audience.
The book doesn’t mention his cancer diagnosis specifically. It draws from the same values that have guided Michael’s life for decades. “I’m not telling people what to do,” he explains. “I’m sharing with you things that allowed me to be at 65 years old completely happy, carefree and unstressed.” He hopes the book finds the people who need it most. Michael expects to release the book in a couple of months.
Teaching golf and putting the final touches on his book are just part of a bigger mission for Michael. He sums up his future goals in one honest answer: “To reach as many people on the planet as possible who are suffering and to help them to suffer less.”
Teaching Through a Diagnosis
Michael has taught golf for nearly 40 years and a cancer diagnosis didn’t change that. He was back giving lessons within 3 weeks of leaving the hospital, teaching from a chair. At his busiest before his diagnosis, he taught close to 100 lessons a month. Now he teaches around 45 to 50, not because he can’t do more, but because he’s choosing to spend his energy differently.
He approaches teaching the way he approaches everything: with simplicity and genuine care. “I’m not there to win friends, but I win friends by being real,” he says. His Google reviews back that up, with nearly all 5 stars from students who keep coming back.
Those students have been one of the most meaningful parts of his recovery. Many of them were the people who showed up at his home with groceries and homemade soup, helped with chores and, in one case, sent him an unsolicited $500 check. “I have great clients,” Michael beams.
Diet, Movement and Daily Discipline
Michael has eaten a vegetarian diet for 26 years. He tells us it’s one of the foundations of his health. His approach to food started with raw foods, then gradually expanded to include cooked vegetarian meals. He says he pays close attention to what he puts in his body.
Diet and nutrition play an important role in helping people with mesothelioma stay well nourished and strong during treatment. It can be challenging for patients to maintain a healthy weight. Michael tells us he came out of the hospital at 116 pounds and has hovered between 122 and 124 pounds. With his attention to nutrition, he was able to gain 2 pounds since his most recent procedure to drain fluid buildup known as ascites or peritoneal effusion.
Physical activity for Michael looks different now than it did before his diagnosis and surgery. He spent several months in physical therapy to rehabilitate his left shoulder, which had limited his range of motion for years. He doesn’t do heavy physical activity, but he hasn’t let that stop him from teaching. He continues offering his knowledge of golf as often as he wants and says his energy continues to improve.
Faith, Meditation and Letting Go
Meditation has been central to Michael’s recovery from surgery and living with mesothelioma. For him, meditation isn’t separate from his spiritual life. It’s an expression of it. He describes it as “focusing on God” and quieting everything else. He shares that for him his “belief system is huge.”
Michael says he doesn’t experience anxiety anymore and attributes that to acceptance. He explains, “If you accept what is in every moment of every day, you start to let go of anxiety.”
This philosophy shapes how he interacts with everyone around him. He shared a recent example. When a beverage cart attendant at his golf course mentioned her mother had stage 4 cancer, Michael didn’t hesitate to share his experience and point her toward resources. Helping others has become as much a part of his recovery as anything else.
