Cancer Survivor Fulfills Dream, Opens Gym in Sandy Springs

By Anna Hovind (@Annabandana1)

February 12, 2016 -- Sandy Springs, GA

At age 33, Atlanta native Matthew Michaelides was living the dream. He had a large circle of lifelong friends dating to his childhood, many from his Little League team in Buckhead and still others from his days at North Atlanta High School, where he played on the varsity basketball and tennis teams. A sports and fitness fanatic, he had the perfect career, working for 20-years at the Gym at Peachtree Presbyterian in Buckhead. He got his first job there when he was a 15-year-old high school student, running the score board for the men’s basketball league.

After attending Auburn University for three years, he left the United States to play professional basketball in Europe for four years. While he was living in Europe, Michaelides met his future wife on the island nation of Cyprus. The couple married there and came to Atlanta to start their new life together. He finished his degree at Kennesaw State University and resumed his job at the well-known Buckhead church. “Coach Matt” became a beloved figure at Peachtree Presbyterian, where he organized and managed all church sports programs for the adult men’s league, and for hundreds of children from the age of two through high school.

In 2011, Michaelides’ wife Lina gave birth to beautiful daughter. On Christmas Day of 2013, the couple learned Lina was pregnant with their second child. Life was good.

But short four months later, in April of 2014, his seemingly perfect life was turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis. “It was a gut punch out of left field,” Michaelides remembers. “I’ve always lived a healthy life and cancer was the farthest thing from my mind.”

Almost immediately after that stunning diagnosis, Michaelides took the bull by the horns and launched into aggressive treatment. He endured weeks of chemotherapy that left him feeling totally exhausted. “Chemotherapy is the worst thing anyone can ever go through,” says Michaelides. “I wouldn’t wish that treatment on my worst enemy.”

While some cancer patients lose weight, Michaelides says his treatments caused him to become bloated and sluggish. But he recalls, “the hardest part was every time you felt like you were getting better, you went back in for another round of treatment, and you just get sick and nauseous and lose all of your energy all over again.”

There were days when Michaelides was too weak to get out of bed. On the days when he felt stronger, he would go to his job at the gym, where he coached children in a variety of team sports, and hosted gym-focused birthday parties for the little ones.

Finally, on August 6 of 2014, after 4 months of steady treatments, he was declared cancer free. A short two weeks later, his wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Fast forward to 2016, and once again, Michaelides is living his dream.

If it hadn’t been for the cancer, he might still be working at his old job at the church. But that diagnosis was a wake-up call, and surviving the disease became the catalyst for him to stop being complacent, and act on his dreams of opening a gym of his own. “That was the driving force behind this,” he says. “I might not be so lucky next time. I could have worked at Peachtree my whole life, but it wasn’t in the best interest of my kids and my wife.”

Now, as he watches his long-time dream become a reality, Michaelides has yet another goal in mind. He wants his Snap Fitness gym at 220 Sandy Springs Circle to be a place where cancer survivors feel welcome to come in and work out. Once the gym is well-established, he dreams of offering special services tailored to cancer survivors, who, like him, are looking for that second chance of having the life they always dreamed of.