Michael Moran

Michael was raised in California. He joined the military , Army, in 1967 where he became a helicopter pilot and was assigned to both Vietnam and Germany. Upon leaving the military he became involved in the commercial world of helicopters and flew for Bristow Helicopters, a British company,  for 25 years. He developed a great love of flying and became a highly respected and proficient pilot. Michael traveled around the world, living and working in many countries including Scotland, England, Iran, Dubai, China, Indonesia, Singapore,  Papua New Guinea and Nigeria. Michael’s first marriage gave him two wonderful children, Sean (now living in Hong Kong with his family) and Erin ( living in California with her family). Michael married Daphne in Singapore in 1986 and they adopted a beautiful baby girl, Susannah, in Bangkok, Thailand in 1987.  Following the diagnosis of early onset Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in 1998, Michael had to relinquish his pilot’s license. The family then moved from Nigeria to Florida where Michael was employed by Flight Safety International in West Palm Beach as a flight instructor in their flight simulators. In 2009 the ever-progressing PD forced him into retirement. In 2014 whilst undergoing Deep Brain Stimulation to aid the PD, three brain tumors were discovered. The melanoma he had been treated for in 2003 had metastasized and traveled to his brain and liver. Immunotherapy prolonged his life for over two years but left him with extreme fatigue and debilitating side effects. Throughout these last two years when his quality of life was so poor, he showed such fortitude and never complained.  He always managed to find humor, something which was an infinite part of the Michael Moran everyone loved so dearly.