Michael T. Boore Jr. was born on May 16, 2006. He is the youngest son of Sergeant Mike Boore of the California Highway Patrol and Monique Boore, Master Instructor at the USA Taekwondo Center – El Monte. Michael was a quiet young man with a magnetic personality.  He was highly competitive in all aspects of life.  He loved to tease his brothers about being the tallest, even though he was the youngest of the three.  He enjoyed 80’s culture, and he could often be found bopping his head to 80’s music or watching the original Karate Kid. Michael was tall and lean, and a very picky eater, unless it was Korean BBQ, where his intake of food was impressive. 

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Most of all, Michael was an athlete.  He played a few different sports growing up, but he loved Taekwondo.  He really fell in love with competitive Taekwondo when he won the silver medal at the 2015 US National Taekwondo Championship. He was only a 9-year-old yellow belt, but he became an adrenaline junkie. He worked hard to move through the ranks quickly, and He was further encouraged when he won a bronze medal at the 2016 Presidents Cup, his first international black belt event. What Michael loved about Taekwondo and competition was the preparation; he loved the fight, and he loved to dominate when he could, and he LOVED to win.  He had it pretty easy as a color belt, being the victor most of the time, but then he hit the black belt level, it became more difficult. But he didn’t give up.  He took the knocks and the losses and kept moving forward. 

 

He worked harder, he became more serious, he studied the sport and he trained hard with Olympic aspirations. His favorite training time was when he was able to train with Master Jimmy Kim. Eventually, Michael started to do very well, winning several state titles in California, Nevada, and Arizona. His efforts were starting to pay off, and he reaped the benefits of hard work and dedication.

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He also started to do well internationally, winning a silver medal at the 2019 Canada Open as well as the 2019 Presidents Cup. He was also recognized as a 2019 All-American Athlete by USA Taekwondo.  His most prized accomplishment, though, was winning the Gold at the 2020 US Open.  Sadly, it was to be his final Taekwondo accomplishment.

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Michael was a very focused individual when it came to competition. He had this crazy ability to go into what we called “competition mode”.  His whole mentality changed in this mode. He became stoic and didn’t want to talk or interact with others.  He just wanted to focus on the task at hand and prepare for the fight.  The Lord created Michael with that very special ability.  He was built that way for a reason.  He was created with this aggressive, unyielding nature. Having a fighter instinct and the perseverance to survive. 

 

The Lord blessed him with a natural ability to block out the noise and get the job done.  His natural skills came in handy when we found out about his cancer diagnosis. In October of 2020, Michael was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma, an aggressive, malignant brain tumor. This diagnosis broke him physically and emotionally, but didn’t change his fighting spirit. He had an amazing ability to stay in the moment. He didn’t let the “what if’s” phase him.  We saw him go into “competition mode” many times during the fight of his life and come out victorious. He walked out of the hospital only two days after his second brain surgery and was on a balance board two days after that. 

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I think what impressed us the most about Michael was his attitude toward this illness.  He didn’t see himself as a victim; he saw himself as an opponent.  He never asked, “Why me?”, he just accepted the assignment and dealt with it.  He remained positive and happy most of the time. Even towards the end, when his body was succumbing to the illness, he still fought.  He took the medicine, he ate, he tried to get up and move. He never once gave up.  

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Cancer brought Michael to his knees and stripped him of everything he knew that made him successful in life, but he found Jesus and surrendered his heart to Him through this hardship. Through this, Michael relearned what it meant to be a fighter. It may seem like the cancer won in the end, but that’s not true. Jesus said in John 11, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God”. This rings true for Michael. Cancer has not won this fight; Michael is the victor because he depended on the One who defeated death.  We know his spirit of fight will continue to encourage and inspire others for years to come.