Our family is unique. When we got married, in our mid-thirties, we longed to embark on our new life together by starting a family. Our prayers were answered by two toddling, curious boys who were born in Medellin, Colombia, and joined our family through adoption. Our Robbie who is 22 and Jack 21. We thought that our family was complete.

But man plans and God laughs, as they say, and two years later, our family received a wonderful surprise. I was delighted to be pregnant with our third son, Michael, who turned out to be, given his loving nature, the ideal missing puzzle piece completing our household.

I stayed home to raise our happy band of boys. In addition to being my sons, my children were my career. They remain the center of my life. Michael included.

​In the summer of 2016, Michael left home for his third and final year of a six-week summer leadership program at Culver Academies in Indiana. Michael always looked forward to summers at Culver, nestled in a picturesque town on a beautiful lake. There, he met and international group of young people from India, Australia and numerous other points on the globe.

Michael’s instinctively fierce loyalty and commitment to his teams, friends and family was fostered and bolstered at Culver. In his final summer there, Michael was ready to work hard and graduate with a first-class rank in the Naval Academy.

​He was so excited to become a leader to his company, Super II. At Culver, Michael was really in his element, thriving, learning, building relationships and becoming the man he wanted to be.

Michael was passionate about sports. At age 13, he started his own blog and named it just1mike. We’d never called him ‘Mike’, but he had always kept up with “Mike and Mike”, a team of two sportscasters who enjoyed a long career on ESPN, hence our Michael becoming just1mike.

By the time he entered high school, Michael was channeling much of his energy into becoming both a sportscaster and a writer. 

Michael was supposed to have a wonderful summer, begin his junior year of high school, continue his education, grow up, have a family and a fulfilling career.

Nobody expected cardiac arrest.

Our foundation, Just1mike was born to honor Michael and his memory. Through the promotion of awareness and prevention of sudden cardiac death, we remain connected to Michael and further his legacy of love and concern for others.
Read more over on Michael's blog: https://just1mike.com
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