June 23, 2025
EP-130 The Racquetball Champion with Parkinson's
Robert Composano refuses to let Parkinson's disease define his life. Diagnosed at age 56, this former sales professional transformed what could have been devastating news into a remarkable journey of resilience and joy. The moment of diagnosis hit like "a shot in the stomach." Robert found himself driving aimlessly, struggling to process what this would mean for his active lifestyle. But rather than surrendering to despair, he methodically evaluated what he could keep and what he might need ...
Robert Composano refuses to let Parkinson's disease define his life. Diagnosed at age 56, this former sales professional transformed what could have been devastating news into a remarkable journey of resilience and joy.
The moment of diagnosis hit like "a shot in the stomach." Robert found himself driving aimlessly, struggling to process what this would mean for his active lifestyle. But rather than surrendering to despair, he methodically evaluated what he could keep and what he might need to give up. While motorcycle riding had to go due to decreased reaction times, Robert was determined to continue playing competitive racquetball—a sport he'd enjoyed for nearly 30 years.
Today, Robert not only plays racquetball but dominates the court, beating competitors who are stunned to learn about his diagnosis. "These guys are in their 60s and late 50s, shaking my hand and saying 'watching you play, it's amazing that you're here all the time and kicking butt,'" Robert shares with quiet pride. His presence challenges common perceptions about Parkinson's, as people frequently ask him, "Are you sure you have Parkinson's? I can't see it."
His approach to living with Parkinson's combines the goal-setting mindset that served him well in sales with a keen awareness of his body's signals. "Read your body and let your body tell you what you're doing right or wrong," he advises. "If I'm too tired, I stop, I'm going to take a nap." This balanced perspective, along with finding the right doctor and joining support groups, forms the foundation of his success.
Robert's story isn't just about maintaining an extraordinary life despite extraordinary circumstances—it's about becoming stronger through the challenge. As he puts it, "You can take the low road or the high road. I'm going to find the best person I can be." His parting advice? "Just keep smiling out there. When you're smiling, people notice good things about you."
Ready to transform your own perspective on Parkinson's or any life challenge? Listen to Robert's full story and discover how adversity might reveal strengths you never knew you had.
- Co-hosts: Judy Yaras & Travis Robinson
- Editor & Audio Engineer: (EP1-100) Spencer Yaras
- Audio Engineering Intern: Ana MacAller
- Social Media Intern: Ana MacAller
www.INDYpodcast.net
00:00 - Introduction to Robert Composano
02:40 - Robert's Diagnosis Story
08:40 - From Devastation to Determination
13:30 - Finding Support and Resources
18:20 - Continuing Racquetball Despite Parkinson's
24:30 - Managing Good Days and Bad
31:10 - Three Key Takeaways for PD Success
WEBVTT
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Welcome to I'm Not Dead Yet with Judy and Travis, a podcast about living an extraordinary life with extraordinary circumstances.
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Welcome to the I'm Not Dead Yet podcast.
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I'm your co-host, travis Robinson.
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I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at age 35 in 2014.
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And I'm your other co-host, Judy Yarris, 2014.
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And I'm your other co-host, judy Yarris.
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My husband Sandy had Parkinson's disease for 18 years.
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I was his care partner.
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Hi Travis.
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Hey, judy, today's episode will be talking to Robert, and I will let you go ahead and introduce him Absolutely.
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So we're really excited today because we have a friend on the show, robert Composano, who I've known, I think, maybe a year, maybe even more than that.
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Robert was diagnosed at age 56 and he's just a super cool guy that Travis and I both really like.
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And the reason we like him is, I think, his attitude, his way of looking at life, we find very inspirational and really wonderful.
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And we want to pass this on to you because you know, as you know, when you get that PD diagnosis it can kind of kick you in the ass and I think for some people they just don't know how to get back up.
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And I think, robert, for me, talking with you over the last year or so, I really see so much energy and positivity that comes from you and I really want to share that with the rest of the world.
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I think it's really important.
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So first of all, if you wouldn't mind, will you just share your story a little bit with us?
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What made you go to the doctor?
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What were some of the symptoms you had?
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What is your early origin?
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Pd story here.
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Oh, hi, hi everybody.
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Thank you Judy, thank you, travis for having me I really appreciate it Really excited.
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My story began basically when, I guess, when some of the other people are notifying or notice their differences in their body or their movements.
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That's how it started.
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I had a little bit of shoulder pain.
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I've actually visited a neurologist, I had MRIs done, I actually had surgery done on my upper spine level and had a disc replacement, figuring that would actually cure my shoulder problem.
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But as time went on it wasn't actually getting better, it was getting worse.
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And, uh, visiting more neurologists and other neurologists and then, uh, then the last determination was basically I had, uh, they noticed that I had parkinson's again, being new to this, it was just devastating to be told that you have parkinson I.
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I mean.
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So many thoughts go in your mind you don't even know where to start.
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So it was just a tremendous blow, especially somebody like myself, very active, very conscious about my weight.
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I was doing everything possible to make sure I stay as healthy as possible and especially with some family history, it was really a shot in the stomach where you just don't know where to start.
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That was the first part of it.
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Robert, I have a question.
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Obviously at that age, I'm assuming you were still working, right, you had a job, correct, yes, career, yes.
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Yes, I was actually a manufacturer sales rep for almost 30 years, so I was constantly on the road, visiting people, talking to people, and as time went on, it's just as when I finally got diagnosed right before I got diagnosed, people did react in a different way, saying you look little, you look a little off, robert, quite a bit from what you used to come in, and I never really considered that, being that it might have been parkinson, it's just like, okay, maybe it's just an off day for me, just just one of those days, but it was just funny some.
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Some people reacted that way but I didn't make anything big about it.
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But as time gone on, it's it started showing on me and I started reacting kind of differently in that sense.
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But that was the scary part.
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Of course, and I'm sure when you get, when you hear those words, you've got Parkinson's.
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There's so many different things that go through your mind at that point.
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Yeah, what does it mean?
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Exactly.
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I mean, you don't know, especially if you don't know anybody that has Parkinson's.
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You just don't know, you just hear it on TV, the radios, you know other other places.
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You just don't think it's going to affect you.
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And when it does, it's really, it's a mind blowing.
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And did you right away, like, did you?
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I know you have a fiance.
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Did you talk to her right away about it, or did you try to hold back with it?
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You know what?
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Where were you with that?
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You know it's funny.
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You say that because we actually, when I finally told her over the phone, it took some time basically to do the act shifts, or I was.
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I got in my car, I took off after the doctor explained to me what I had.
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I just didn't know where to go.
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I was driving in circles.
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I got on the freeway thinking I'm going to go visit my next customer, but I didn't even do that.
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I just didn't know how to absorb it.
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It was just a tough reaction.
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It was just driving, driving and driving.
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I finally picked up the phone after she had called me like 10 times and then just just to tell her I was just like wow, she was the first person I told the poor, of course, but it was just uh, you didn't know what direction you were going.
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I was on the.
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I was on the 110.
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I was on the 605.
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I was on the 605.
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I was on the 405.
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I was just driving around going what the heck?
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What's going on, right?
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Yeah, feeling very overwhelmed, I'm sure, at that moment.
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I just didn't have any direction from there.
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It's just like wow.
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And then I talked to her about it and she's just like go home, go home, we'll talk about it.
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Get off the freeway, stop driving, tell your boss, you're not feeling well that you're just going to cut your day suggestion yes, yeah, it was very good suggestion yeah, so was, was it were you seeing a regular neurologist at that point right, it was just a regular neurologist yeah a general neurologist yeah yes, it was did they do?
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Did they do any scans, like a dat scan or anything, or no?
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yeah, actually.
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Yes, I had a mri they requested I do an mri on my, on my skull and my brain, to make sure I didn't have any brain tumors or anything.
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Okay, which this was probably the fourth, fifth or sixth m MRI that I had done in my body actually, but they didn't find anything like that, so that was great news.
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So nothing was really wrong, in a sense, other than my weakness on my left arm, on my left side, was the only thing that was affecting me the most, and actually my voice started changing in time and it was just noticeable.
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At that point I was wondering what it was and never thought it was Parkinson's, to be honest with you.
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Yeah, well, no, because it's not something you think that you're going to have at that point.
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You didn't have any family history.
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You didn't know anyone that had it right.
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Absolutely.
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I didn't know anyone that had it.
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I mean as many people and travel through the states as a sales representative never ran into anybody talking about parkinson's at all at all.
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And you hear the cancer, you hear all this stuff, but you never hear about parkinson's so much okay, so this was a whole new world for you.
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Absolutely.
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Once you got the diagnosis I'm curious and you sat down, did you tell other family members, did you kind of wait I don't know if your parents are around, but did you tell other people in your family about it or other friends, or did you kind of hold on to it for a while?
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I held on to it for a little bit while because I was just I didn't know what to think, but other than my fiance was like stepped up and said you know, let's start doing some research, let's start looking into stuff.
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She reached out to a friend of hers, which was really nice, and she knew about Parkinson's.
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She knew about Parkinson's Foundation which I didn't know about.
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And after we did some research, we attended one of the.
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It was a beautiful play that that was taken.
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It was in West LA and it was about actually.
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It was actually talking about when you first were diagnosed with Parkinson's and sharing it with family and loved ones, basically over the phone.
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Oh my God, it was mind-blowing.
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It was just exactly to the point.
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When I found out I was diagnosed with Parkinson's, the first reactions, the first phone call you make with the loved one, it was really.
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It was really traumatic.
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It was a reality check.
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I should say Met some people with Parkinson's.
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It was just like the first time around that I met people with Parkinson's.
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But that play really opened my eyes to the reality.
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I mean I cried, the whole audience cried.
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It was really emotional.
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I remember when they did that that was a couple years ago, right, it was like two years ago, I think.
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Yes, it was, it was really, it was awesome, I mean.
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Yes, it was sad, but I mean, but it was really a reality and it opened my eyes to believe that you know, life goes on, life is really good.
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After that, you can make your life better.
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Right.
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So you know, with that in mind, as you say that, robert, you've always been so positive and proactive about making your life better, and I guess what I want to know and what maybe you can share with people because we know people can go into a funk, you can get depressed, you can you know kind of hide which you clearly did not hide.
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You kind of got proactive.
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You said I'm going to do some research, I'm going to find out about this.
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What did you decide?
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How did you come to the place of saying I'm going to make my life better or I'm going to keep my life good even though I have Parkinson's?
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Was there an aha moment?
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Maybe?
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Maybe there wasn't, but was there something that kind of triggered that said I can do this?
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You know, I think it took a little bit of time to really absorb all the the, the Parkinson, um, um, all the things that were going to happen to you, cause basically you feel like when nobody knows about Parkinson's and they finally think they're going to die, that's probably one of the first things like cancer.
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Basically, that's how you feel and I said, no, this is not going to happen to me.
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This is not going to happen to me.
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I know there's going to be changes in my life in the future, but I'm going to live my life the way it should be still living.
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You know there are things are going to be taken away from you, like motorcycle riding was one of my biggest thing and that I had to stop, basically because of my reaction and my response.
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You're not going to be able to respond this quick enough, so I had to give that up.
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So I had to figure out what am I going to give up and what am I going to be able to keep, and then you basically write that down what are you going to give up and what are you going to keep and what are you going to keep and what are you going to keep going on.
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And then you just kind of put it in play.
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Just like you know, I believe in therapy, I believe in all that.
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You know, I actually attended therapy with it.
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You write your goals.
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You do the same thing when you have Parkinson's.
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You write your goals and what direction are you going to take yourself with this?
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And being a salesperson for many, many years and being taught by a lot of old salespeople, it's the same concept your goals.
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What are your numbers going to be looked at in the next sponsor next year?
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I love that.
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Yeah, same subject, same direction.
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So I figured you know what?
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I have a wonderful person, a partner that's helping me out if I even need help, and she does every step for me and then I do the rest and it's been so successful.
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I mean, I played racquetball for almost 30 years.
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I'm still playing racquetball at the competitive that I kept and even better, and my friends are like amazed because they don't know anybody who has Parkinson's that plays racquetball.
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You know you go to every gym.
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I've traveled maybe to 10 or 15 different gyms and played tournaments.
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I go back to half of them and they like, yeah, here you have Parkinson's and you're still playing, and I'm like yep, which is?
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probably why you feel so good is because that was one of the things that you chose to keep up when you were making that list.
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Yes, and it is.
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It's saving my life.
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The gym, the people, the reactions.
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I tell my fiance almost every weekend oh man, she sees these guys and we still have the drama.
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It's still the same, it's all the same.
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But people look at me like man, man, I should be doing something better for myself.
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And this guy, look at this guy.
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He's, he's in his 50s, he's got parkinson, then he's kicking butt.
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You know, he's here all the time you know, yeah, yeah, so and it's the same way, which is so great I'm working out.
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yeah, so I I just feel like, at this point, nothing's going to stop you.
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You could still enjoy life.
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I mean, I mean, it's there's things that are going to be taken away for you in time, but enjoy what you have.
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Like they always say, live in the moment, Don't live in the future.
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That's a really good point, you know I I love that you are saying that because it's easy as you're making a list, you know, and I have a sales background too, so I get that idea of the numbers of projections and what you're going to do.
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But as you're making your list of things that you might have to give up and the things that you might be able to keep, I think it's interesting to me to see how you came about.
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Okay, I can't ride the motorcycle, but can I?
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Did you ask yourself, can I still play racquetball?
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Or were there frustration moments?
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Did you say to your friends hey, I have Parkinson's and I'm going to still try to do this?
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Or did you not say anything initially and then just go on and do it?
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I guess that's a big question.
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Basically, no, I did tell them.
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I made adjustments.
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It took a little bit of a while to get back into it 110% but I reacted in the sense of I'm going to practice, I'm going to go, I'm not going to care if these guys are going to tell me, oh, you're not good enough to play anymore, because it felt like I was starting all over when I started playing racquetball.
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It was the same response You're too early, you're not a better player, you know.
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I said you know what?
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I'm going to do the same thing and I'm going to keep playing.
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I'm going to do the same thing and I'm going to keep playing.
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I'm going to keep playing.
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And I did.
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I practiced for a while and I started playing again Just recently.
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I could share a little story over the weekend, this weekend, over the weekend, the guys came up to me and they all shook my hand and said you know what?
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You're a great inspiration for all of us.
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You know, for you playing racquetball, you know, and these guys are in their 60s and late 50s and they're still playing.
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But they're saying, they're shaking my hand and said you know what, watching you play, it's just like wow, just amazing that you're here all the time and you're kicking butt, you're beating us.
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You know, I didn't think that that was going to happen.
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Like they say, they just don't know anybody with Parkinson's.
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They don't know anything about Parkinson's.
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So just you know the little information now that it's surprising that they even research themselves.
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Like hey, you know what?
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I was researching Parkinson's the other day and it came up and wow, Let me tell you, you got a big heart, Robert, for coming out here.
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I don't know what it's, what it's taking you to come out here, but you're doing it and it's funny.
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It's like did you ever hear about?
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anybody with Parkinson's and they're like no See, it's great because you're now an ambassador, you're sort of changing the face.
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This is something that I think we want to always do.
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You know, I used to say to people Parkinson's.
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We have to find a way to make Parkinson's sexy, you know.
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So people, you know, really look at it with a different point of view, rather than being so down.
00:17:49.393 --> 00:17:58.752
If you hear the word Parkinson's, you panic, but you're sort of taking the word now and saying, oh, it's not defining me right.
00:17:58.873 --> 00:18:11.919
Parkinson's has not defined you at this point it's it's really just, it's just something that you have, but it doesn't make it that that's all you are.
00:18:11.919 --> 00:18:17.917
You are still the same person, but you've made some adjustments along the way, you know.
00:18:18.686 --> 00:18:23.204
And let me tell you I'm sorry, I just don't want to say that, no, go ahead everywhere.
00:18:23.204 --> 00:18:30.166
Everywhere we go, we go see family all the time and they look at me and they're like are you sure you got parkinson's?
00:18:30.166 --> 00:18:32.011
And it's like what do you mean?
00:18:32.011 --> 00:18:32.692
Am I sure?
00:18:32.692 --> 00:18:36.009
I feel it every day, all day long, but that's right.
00:18:36.009 --> 00:18:38.096
But I can't see it.
00:18:38.096 --> 00:18:43.334
And you, you know you smile, you come in smiling, your, your personality's still the same.
00:18:43.334 --> 00:18:46.851
I mean, you still look good and I'm like thanks.
00:18:46.911 --> 00:18:47.192
Yeah.
00:18:47.192 --> 00:18:51.309
Isn't that amazing, though, that's what you want to hear.
00:18:51.309 --> 00:18:52.133
That's what you want.
00:18:52.133 --> 00:18:56.915
Have you had problems with like tremor or anything like that?
00:18:56.915 --> 00:18:59.934
Like when you say people say you don't look like you have Parkinson's.
00:18:59.934 --> 00:19:02.826
So what does Parkinson's look like to people Like?
00:19:02.826 --> 00:19:04.511
What do they expect you to look like?
00:19:04.511 --> 00:19:07.493
I guess that's the big question, you know.
00:19:07.845 --> 00:19:16.776
Well, yes, because most of the time they see, you know the first thing they come out of their mouth, especially people my age, close to my age, michael J Fox, that's what they see.
00:19:16.776 --> 00:19:17.708
That's what they see.
00:19:17.708 --> 00:19:19.925
Parkinson's, that's what they see Parkinson's.
00:19:19.945 --> 00:19:20.445
That's what they see.
00:19:20.445 --> 00:19:22.468
They see the dyskinesia.
00:19:22.488 --> 00:19:30.155
Yes, I mean, I do have a little dyskinesia and I do have a little bit of facial differences and stuff like that sometimes.
00:19:30.155 --> 00:19:34.400
But it's funny because they keep on asking me are you sure you have Parkinson's?
00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.744
And I'm like, yes, I do, yes, I do.
00:19:37.744 --> 00:19:40.230
I wish I could say no, I don't have it.
00:19:40.230 --> 00:19:44.217
But you know, unfortunately, yes, I do, but I'm fighting it.
00:19:44.217 --> 00:19:45.519
You know, I'm enjoying my life.
00:19:48.224 --> 00:19:49.606
I want my fiance to enjoy me Right?
00:19:49.606 --> 00:19:52.790
Did you start taking meds right away, robert?
00:19:52.790 --> 00:19:56.434
Or were you in that mindset of oh, I don't want to take medication?
00:19:56.434 --> 00:19:58.416
How did that work for you?
00:19:58.416 --> 00:20:08.065
Because we hear different things from people when they first get diagnosed no-transcript.
00:20:07.855 --> 00:20:12.506
Well, basically I'm not a big fan of medication because I've watched my mother actually.
00:20:12.506 --> 00:20:15.701
I mean she's still around, we're so happy to have her.
00:20:15.701 --> 00:20:17.019
I mean she's going to be 91.
00:20:17.019 --> 00:20:19.817
Wow, but the medication is.
00:20:19.817 --> 00:20:28.888
It was just a tremendous amount of medication when I told myself I'm going to work myself so I wouldn't have to take these medications until I really am at that age.
00:20:28.888 --> 00:20:33.202
So when the doctor prescribed me the medication, it was yeah, I took it.
00:20:33.202 --> 00:20:34.385
I started working with it.
00:20:34.385 --> 00:20:45.590
But let me tell you, being on a PCLA group support group, it really changed a lot for myself, my fiance.
00:20:45.590 --> 00:20:50.886
It direct us to the right place, to the right doctor, the right medication.
00:20:50.886 --> 00:20:53.623
I mean, it's just, it's been overwhelming.
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