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photo by Talia Hodge
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photo by Talia Hodge
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photo by Talia Hodge
Michael Allio wrote, Find one thing that brings you joy today, on a Post-it note he stuck to his mirror after his wife, Laura, died from breast cancer in 2019.
“You need to be able to find one thing that makes you laugh, makes you excited,” says the now-38-year-old who was with Laura for 16 years and raises their son, James, now 6. “Then you realize there’s so many more of those around you. It starts to build hope.”
The hope of finding love and happiness again prompted the Copley resident and co-founder and vice president of Mascot Workwear to become a season 17 contestant on “The Bachelorette.” But Allio exited the show after an emotional FaceTime during which James said it felt like his dad didn’t want to see him. Hope was still there, so Allio set out to find love again on the recent eighth season of “Bachelor in Paradise,” for which he requested to be joined by former “Bachelor” contestant Danielle Maltby, whom he had formed an online friendship with. He bonded with Maltby over losing a significant other, as her fiance died 12 years ago, and the pair left the beach together. The nurse practitioner moved to Cleveland in February to be near Allio and James.
Allio keeps busy with his L4 Project nonprofit that he founded in Laura’s honor to sell inspirational apparel that raises awareness and helps fund nonprofits supporting those fighting cancer and their families. He also has a company, Saint James Therapeutics, which developed a formulation to treat a chemotherapy side effect, Hand-Foot Syndrome, which Laura had and causes severe blistering and swelling. Allio patented it, and universities are interested in taking it through clinical trials.
He talks about love, loss and hope.
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that time heals. I don’t believe time heals. There’s always going to be this hole. You just learn how to operate better with it in existence. The most important part for me is to continue moving forward.
It’s a very difficult thing, but there is hope.
The life of a widower is a little bit complicated. … We live in a very bittersweet world.
I can see Danielle and James’ relationship flourish, them growing closer, while simultaneously I feel sad that Laura isn’t with me to be able to see these milestones that James is going through.
Danielle is somebody that could relate to where I was mentally and emotionally. She’s also someone that exhibits a lot of characteristics I look for in a life partner: passionate about causes, ambitious, caring, nurturing, compassionate.
I left for Chicago for about a decade, and it was during that time when I realized the amazing community that’s in Akron.
I feel like I’m needed here.
Anybody that knows Laura knew that she was a huge advocate for not only cancer research and patient support but a ton of causes throughout Northeast Ohio.
When you go through something like chemotherapy … you start to identify things that are wrong with the systems and the areas that you can help.
Hopefully at the end of this, we can do our little piece and make treatment and quality of life better for people who are fighting for their lives.
I have a calling and a drive for purpose.” — as told to Kelly Petryszyn
