Michael in Minnesota 2009
Michael is the youngest child in a blended family of six children born to Joseph Brink and Nancy Peña. He was born on April 23, 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1995, he moved to Wellington, Florida with his parents, brother Marco, and sisters Nicole and Deanna. Michael attended New Horizons Elementary, Binks Forest Elementary, Wellington Landings Middle School, Wellington Community High School, North Hennepin Community College and Palm Beach State College and sometimes home schooled.
As a youth, Michael played the drums, was a Cub Scout and participated in many sports such as karate, soccer, baseball, basketball, and football. He especially enjoyed roller hockey, skateboarding and snowboarding. His passion was bowling and he was great at it often exclaiming he was going to be the first Professional Puerto Rican Bowler. Michael was a graduate of the Landmark Education Teen Forum, and Peak Potentials Enlightened Warrior Boot Camp, Wizard Training Camp and Extreme Wealth. He enjoyed learning and applying what he learned.
As a young man, he was searching for his purpose and seeking how to live as an adult with responsibilities of a good job or business that would provide a significant income and allow him to purchase the material goods that he wanted, car, house etc. He especially looked forward to finding that perfect woman, marrying her and having children together. He was constantly in search of that perfect woman and although he thought several times that he had found her, in the end, his soulmate was not to be found on earth. He loved children and looked forward to having his own family one day, a dream that he never had a chance to see materialize.
Michael is the love of our life. From the moment of his birth he was well anticipated. He was brought home by the entire family three days after his birth on his mother’s birthday and his grandparents were at his house to welcome him home. His smile was contagious, his energy infectious and he was extremely loveable. He enjoyed being with people and people enjoyed being around him. He was compassionate and helpful.
His life however was plagued by medical problems from the age of two when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and although it was benign, it left many problems in Michael’s life. Despite all the medical challenges, he never allowed that to dampen his beautiful demeanor. As a matter of fact, it made him more committed to accomplishing what he started.
At the age of four, he experienced two broken arms. Two different breaks at two different times with two different people at two different physical sites in two different states. At the age of 14 he was involved in a fork lift accident that almost took his life and left him with a broken leg, massive soft tissue damage and an infection that almost killed him because his doctor did not take care of him properly plus nerve damage to an arm and hand.
He never let any of those problems upset him. He seemed to make lemonade out of lemons many times. He was constantly undergoing medical procedures, MRIs, Catscans and other psychological evaluations however his smile was always on his face. He never complained about all the poking and prodding which would have made most people angry. He smiled through it all. Many times engaging with the technicians and goofing around with them.
Michael’s medical challenges led to problems with discipline in school and problems in school eventually led to problems with drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. Many doctors tried to stop him from those illegal substances by replacing them with legal pharmaceutical drugs. Things became very difficult when the doctors started introducing these drugs into his already delicate system. No matter how much these medications failed, doctors continued introducing new drugs which added to his addictions.
As I learned more and more about health and nutrition, I shared that with Michael. We were working on a more holistic approach to his problems, when he passed away at the age of 19 years old. We will never know what his life would have been like if he had continued on that path however we now know there are choices on how to take care of your health and that is what we offer at the Michael Joseph Brink Foundation. We will work to help you achieve optimum health using holistic approaches when available and traditional treatments when necessary.
We are also committed to providing you with alternative educational methods based on your learning style because we know that not everyone learns the same way. We are based on personal responsibility, healthy living and full self expression.
