Tribute To Michael - Can't wait to see you again!
Why Blessed By Michael is Important
Many of you already know our story, but in case this is the first time you are visiting us, Michael was our older brother. When Michael was born, he had a major heart issue and had to have most of his heart changed over to plastic. His blood actually flowed the opposite direction of nearly every other human on the planet because of this. He grew frail and lived in a low oxygen state most of his life. He was busted up quite frequently to adjust and fix issues as he grew. It was tough but so was he! He dealt with it until he turned 40 when the Doctors then told him that his heart was no longer viable and would need a transplant. We were just shocked, but this was his shot to get to a normal heart and live a healthy and sustained life.
He sat on the donors list for a very long time. He was in that hospital more days than I could count on life saving machines while waiting for the perfect donor. You see, his heart never fully developed so it was a smaller chest cavity than most so it took a very special donor to get him a replacement. He stayed in that hospital with his head held high and most days in great spirit. Donor hearts would come up but for one reason or another they just wouldn't work for him. He remained steadfast and positive.
Once the news of a heart was finally available and would work, we got the news that the donor was HIV positive. It was shocking to hear that a perfect candidate had been found but we had yet another hurdle to jump. The doctors said we were out of time and that they would get the HIV out of the heart and use it. They were successful in this and the transplant was set! The day came and the joy, excitement, and fear all came into play. We all knew it was a tricky spot and it wasn't going to be easy. We all stayed positive and close to 10 hours later, the surgeon came out and told us it went extremely well and he was in the recovery. We finally took a breath. It was over and he can now go on to some sort of regular life.
I still remember like it was yesterday when I walked in and he was awake. He looked at me with a small tear in his eye and took a super deep breath. I said, "Are you ok?" to which he replied, "Is this how you breathe every day?". I guess I never understood until that moment that he had never been able to take a full breath like the rest of us his entire life. His oxygen levels to his heart had NEVER functioned right since he was a baby, so naturally he thought all of us breathed in that way. It was shocking to me, but gave me so much joy for him to see.
The Family Side of things
The Sibling slots family is Momo, Brian, Angie, Michelle, and our sister Amy (Not in picture) We have all changed quite a bit since this photo was taken as we have all worked hard on our health as you may imagine after Michaels passing.
Michael also has a daughter (Katie) that is doing fantastic and is an accomplished Author with a few books under her belt now. She is an amazing young lady that is so much like her father.
We continue on as a family and want nothing more than to continue this giveaway series in his honor. We love the idea of giving and we all have our favorite areas to donate.
As we navigate this channel and continue to grow, we plan on helping in several arenas. My better half, Amy, is a teacher and has spent much of her career working in the deaf community, so school supplies and aid for deaf and hard of hearing is very important to her and I. We want to be able to support any kids activities as much as we can. I am sure we will have a few giveaways that go straight to school/kid related causes. Maybe hearing tests, or aids for those that need it.
Cancer research and cure finding is super important and we would support those initiatives as well, but we would focus more on the family help. We know exactly what it like to do the grind day in and day out. The missing work and regular cost of being there for your friends and family in this time is super tough. We would definitely help these families in their daily needs for travel, food, and bills. Heck, just the parking every day was an expense to go and visit him.
Who He was
Michael was a very persistent person in all he did. Once he started, there was no stopping him. He was going to achieve his goal. It started with the most basic thing ever, survive. He was told over and over, you won't make it to 2, 5, 8, 12, 21, 30 years old. He said, "Hold My Beer". He was told the transplant would take him, he said, "Not Today". Even standing in the face of a death sentence Cancer diagnosis, he never relented. He fought it so hard and in the end, he had to go off the machines to let him go.
Michael was a terrific photographer. I have included some of his work on the site and I am going to add a photo page to show off his amazing photography. He had a way of capturing moments. He would make something from nothing and it was pretty impressive to see his work evolve over the years.
Michael was also a huge collector in the Art world as well. He was all over the map on his taste, but he settled into musical art the most. He enjoyed getting to know artists and always supported local talent.
Our Commitment
Give Back to Humanity in his Name! Michael now rests inside this Baseball bat with the foul ball he caught at our last cubs game. His ashes are in this, but his heart and soul lives in his family and his goodness is what we are representing on this channel. He is still 100% the foundation of our family because of the lessons of kindness, commitment, honesty, bravery, and comedy he added to our lives.
He beat the odds for nearly all of his life, but in the days the Cancer was trying to take him from us, he never relented. He always smiled and said, we can do this. We can get through this together. He knew what the end game was, but he never showed it. His daughter and his family by his side all the way through it. We are proud to have had the pleasure of having him as a brother/son/uncle/nephew/FRIEND.
The world is better that he lived in it. This is his legacy, without him none of this channels mission would be happening.
