- W
- K
12/19/2020
Hi All,
I'd like to thank everyone again and provide a quick update on Michael's son. Your generous gifts provided tremendous help and enabled us to get Kyle transitioned into his new environment and new way of life. I have posted a picture of him in his new residence and the smile on his face says it all. It has been tough on our family living with losing Michael and our other brothers Kenny and Steve. Your kind words and outreach help us to push on through. Words cannot express how appreciative we are and how proud we are to see how much Michael is loved.
Sincerely,
Family of Michael B. Sykes
8/11/2020
Thank you all so very much for the donations and to those of you who attended the memorial.
Your outpouring of support is beautiful and the family greatly appreciates you.
For those of you who were not able to attend the live virtual memorial, I am posting a link to the video for you to view or share. Again thank you so very much.
https://youtu.be/RsU2mBNQTQg
7/16/2020
Thank you all for your generous donations and getting us so close to our goal.
The donations have already been put to good use getting Michael's sons transitioned to their own accounts for critical services.
As announced on Michael's FB page, we are collecting email addresses for the Zoom invites.
Click the link below to privately share your email address and thank you all for your thoughtful and loving words of support. We appreciate you and seeing the impact that Michael had on so many warms our hearts.
Leave your email for the Memorial Service Zoom invite
Peace and Blessings,
The Sykes family
7/9/2020
Thank you all for your kind and generous gifts.
As announced on Michael's FB page, we are having a virtual memorial service via Zoom and livestreamed on FB on Friday, 8/7/2020 at 2:30 pm ET.
Information on invites and links coming soon.
Thank you,
The Family
~~~~~Excerpt edited from the story Michael and I wrote for publishing.
Meet Michael Sykes
Michael B. Sykes, father of 2, Air Force and Army veteran, DC Comic, new employee, middle child of seven siblings.... and on and on... 2019 started pretty normal with the exception of a bout of bronchitis he just couldn’t kick.
Michael was a Medic and would diagnose and treat himself against all family and practical advice. So, he had been following the normal protocol for treating bronchitis with expectorants, antihistamines, inhalers and eventually he got a prescription for antibiotics. In late January, he was on a business trip for his new job that he was excited to start when his symptoms returned, except this time with mouth sores. He stopped in to an urgent care to have it checked out. That was when a routine blood test revealed the unexpected. The results began a new normal for Michael. The test revealed a white blood cell anomaly, and he was admitted to a cancer institute where the Leukemia diagnosis was confirmed. Leukemia comes in different forms, and Michael was diagnosed with the “curable” one, AML, Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
Our family had not yet recovered from back to back losses of loved ones, youngest brother - Steve who traveled for business with a lingering flu bug, similar to Michael, went to an urgent care while on his trip, just like Michael, and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Steve passed away at age 50 on Father’s Day 2017, leaving his wife and 2 young children. The family was rocked by this unexpected and untimely death of Steve, and to compound the pain, Michael discovered the death of our next to oldest brother Kenneth around six months later in Feb 2018. Steve’s death was a sucker punch right cross to the family, Kenny’s death was the left cross and less than a year later, Michael's AML - uppercut.
Michael took on this fight with determination, resolve and humor. You see, Michael was a comic who cut his comedic eye teeth on the DC Comic circuit with the likes of Wanda Sykes, not related nor married to as they would often joke about, Dave Chapelle, Carl Banks, Martin Lawrence, and Tony Perkins just to namedrop a few. If you followed his Facebook page you saw live feeds of him giving updates to those who love and care about him with humor. It was difficult because you were hurting and hoping and waiting for him to get better but listening to the updates where he says so much funny stuff - made you laugh.
Michael battled AML from remission to relapse and back again, along with what proved to be even more threatening than the AML, an invasive fungal sinusitis. When Michael entered the hospital this last time, it was for the removal of a dead gallbladder, where he joked that he wondered if it was depressed. He has two adult sons, one with special needs, along with four other living siblings, his mom, friends and a sweetheart that fueled his battle. Ultimately pneumonia from a fungul infection in his lungs while attempting to recover from surgery to remove the gall bladder was too much for his year and half long battle worn body to handle and he passed away on Wednesday, July 1, 2020.
Michael had a job he liked and wanted to get back to and comedy sets he wanted to book, like the one he did in February while in remission. He wanted to get back to holidays and family gatherings, lawns, hedges and playing the neighborhood Santa.... he had normal that he wanted to get back to.
Michael's almost 2 year long fight ravaged his finances so the family is establishing this GoFundMe to help transition his special needs son to his new normal.
Thank you for the support and love you have shown Michael over the years and during his illness and to us since his death.
The Family
Hi All,
I'd like to thank everyone again and provide a quick update on Michael's son. Your generous gifts provided tremendous help and enabled us to get Kyle transitioned into his new environment and new way of life. I have posted a picture of him in his new residence and the smile on his face says it all. It has been tough on our family living with losing Michael and our other brothers Kenny and Steve. Your kind words and outreach help us to push on through. Words cannot express how appreciative we are and how proud we are to see how much Michael is loved.
Sincerely,
Family of Michael B. Sykes
8/11/2020
Thank you all so very much for the donations and to those of you who attended the memorial.
Your outpouring of support is beautiful and the family greatly appreciates you.
For those of you who were not able to attend the live virtual memorial, I am posting a link to the video for you to view or share. Again thank you so very much.
https://youtu.be/RsU2mBNQTQg
7/16/2020
Thank you all for your generous donations and getting us so close to our goal.
The donations have already been put to good use getting Michael's sons transitioned to their own accounts for critical services.
As announced on Michael's FB page, we are collecting email addresses for the Zoom invites.
Click the link below to privately share your email address and thank you all for your thoughtful and loving words of support. We appreciate you and seeing the impact that Michael had on so many warms our hearts.
Leave your email for the Memorial Service Zoom invite
Peace and Blessings,
The Sykes family
7/9/2020
Thank you all for your kind and generous gifts.
As announced on Michael's FB page, we are having a virtual memorial service via Zoom and livestreamed on FB on Friday, 8/7/2020 at 2:30 pm ET.
Information on invites and links coming soon.
Thank you,
The Family
~~~~~Excerpt edited from the story Michael and I wrote for publishing.
Meet Michael Sykes
Michael B. Sykes, father of 2, Air Force and Army veteran, DC Comic, new employee, middle child of seven siblings.... and on and on... 2019 started pretty normal with the exception of a bout of bronchitis he just couldn’t kick.
Michael was a Medic and would diagnose and treat himself against all family and practical advice. So, he had been following the normal protocol for treating bronchitis with expectorants, antihistamines, inhalers and eventually he got a prescription for antibiotics. In late January, he was on a business trip for his new job that he was excited to start when his symptoms returned, except this time with mouth sores. He stopped in to an urgent care to have it checked out. That was when a routine blood test revealed the unexpected. The results began a new normal for Michael. The test revealed a white blood cell anomaly, and he was admitted to a cancer institute where the Leukemia diagnosis was confirmed. Leukemia comes in different forms, and Michael was diagnosed with the “curable” one, AML, Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
Our family had not yet recovered from back to back losses of loved ones, youngest brother - Steve who traveled for business with a lingering flu bug, similar to Michael, went to an urgent care while on his trip, just like Michael, and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Steve passed away at age 50 on Father’s Day 2017, leaving his wife and 2 young children. The family was rocked by this unexpected and untimely death of Steve, and to compound the pain, Michael discovered the death of our next to oldest brother Kenneth around six months later in Feb 2018. Steve’s death was a sucker punch right cross to the family, Kenny’s death was the left cross and less than a year later, Michael's AML - uppercut.
Michael took on this fight with determination, resolve and humor. You see, Michael was a comic who cut his comedic eye teeth on the DC Comic circuit with the likes of Wanda Sykes, not related nor married to as they would often joke about, Dave Chapelle, Carl Banks, Martin Lawrence, and Tony Perkins just to namedrop a few. If you followed his Facebook page you saw live feeds of him giving updates to those who love and care about him with humor. It was difficult because you were hurting and hoping and waiting for him to get better but listening to the updates where he says so much funny stuff - made you laugh.
Michael battled AML from remission to relapse and back again, along with what proved to be even more threatening than the AML, an invasive fungal sinusitis. When Michael entered the hospital this last time, it was for the removal of a dead gallbladder, where he joked that he wondered if it was depressed. He has two adult sons, one with special needs, along with four other living siblings, his mom, friends and a sweetheart that fueled his battle. Ultimately pneumonia from a fungul infection in his lungs while attempting to recover from surgery to remove the gall bladder was too much for his year and half long battle worn body to handle and he passed away on Wednesday, July 1, 2020.
Michael had a job he liked and wanted to get back to and comedy sets he wanted to book, like the one he did in February while in remission. He wanted to get back to holidays and family gatherings, lawns, hedges and playing the neighborhood Santa.... he had normal that he wanted to get back to.
Michael's almost 2 year long fight ravaged his finances so the family is establishing this GoFundMe to help transition his special needs son to his new normal.
Thank you for the support and love you have shown Michael over the years and during his illness and to us since his death.
The Family