About Michael K. Gainey
Who am I?
Hello, I’m Michael. I’m a husband, a father, a speaker, and a survivor. I was born in Pensacola, Florida on May 23rd, 1997 at 11:47 p.m. And yes, that time matters because I don’t believe my age truly changes until the exact minute I was born. Basically, I refuse to get older until I absolutely have to.
From the very beginning, life hit hard. I came into this world extremely sick. Doctors had to perform multiple spinal taps, and I couldn’t go home with my mom. I can only imagine the stress she felt in those first moments of my life. What she didn’t know was that her baby boy was going to face a lot more in the years to come.
I watched my father struggle with addiction and go in and out of jail. I saw my mother raise me the best she could, all on her own. I was expelled from two schools and even a daycare. Later, I developed a brain tumor, a cyst, and hydrocephalus. I battled anxiety and depression. I carried pain I didn’t have the words to explain.
The truth is, no one ever taught me how to understand myself. I didn’t know what self-awareness was. I didn’t know how to manage my emotions, how to stay calm under pressure, or how to make choices that aligned with purpose. I didn’t know how to build healthy relationships or understand what other people were feeling.
If someone had given me those five skills like self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship building, it would have changed everything. It would have given a struggling kid the strength to stand through the storm instead of breaking in the middle of it.
My passion is people. Speaking is just the vehicle, but people are the destination. At the heart of everything I do is one simple truth. I love people. Not just the easy parts or the highlight reels. I love the real, the raw, and the parts most folks try to hide.
I’ve lived through pain, pressure, and poverty. I know what it feels like to carry weight in silence. That’s why I don’t just speak to audiences. I speak for them. Every story I share, every message I give, and every time I grab a mic, I’m thinking about the one person who feels invisible. The one who thinks no one gets it.
I want them to know they matter. Speaking is the platform, but people are the purpose.
How My Journey Started
In 2014, I was a senior in high school playing in the Subway All-Star Game on a cold December night. I had just led the entire Gulf Coast in tackles, earning Defensive MVP, and had multiple college football scholarships on the table. Life was lining up. My future looked bright. But everything changed in a single moment.
I was sprinting down the field on a kickoff, locked in on the tackle in front of me. Right before I could make the play, I took an illegal blindside hit to the back of the head. I was knocked out cold. They rushed me off the field, and I didn’t come back. It wasn’t until about an hour later, sitting on the sideline, that I finally realized where I was and what city I was in. That hit changed everything.
From that moment on, my life started to unravel in ways I couldn’t see coming. I developed a brain tumor, a cyst, and hydrocephalus. At one point, I was lying in a hospital bed listening to the doctor tell my dad that my heart had stopped. In that moment, I thought it was over. Everything I had worked for felt like it was slipping through my fingers.
But I survived. I had a seven-hour surgery to remove the tumor and the cyst. Holes were drilled into my head. I had to relearn how to walk, how to balance, how to live again. I spent eleven days in the ICU fighting just to stay here. And when I thought the worst was behind me, I had to go through another surgery. They placed a shunt in my brain to help drain the fluid caused by hydrocephalus. The tube runs down my neck and into my stomach to keep the pressure off my brain.
That entire experience didn’t just affect my health. It gave me a new reason to live. It showed me how short life really is. And it sparked something in me that still drives me today. My life took a turn I never expected, but somehow, it led me right to where I needed to be.
It was the beginning of my calling. I remember lying in that hospital bed, staring at the ceiling with scars on my head and a shunt in my brain. I saw a side of life most people never see. I came face to face with what could have been my last breath. I know what it feels like to be seconds away from leaving this earth. And when I made it through, I knew I couldn’t go back to life as usual. I had to do something with what I had been through.
That moment lit a fire in me. Not just to survive, but to help others learn how to really live. I started to see that emotional health matters just as much as physical health. There are so many people carrying pressure they don’t know how to process. I used to be one of them. That’s why I built my message and my mission around teaching what I wish someone had taught me. Things like self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, making better decisions, and building stronger relationships.
I didn’t grow up learning those things. But now I teach them every chance I get. Because when students are equipped with real tools to understand themselves and deal with adversity, they don’t just get by. They get stronger. They grow. And they start to lift up the people around them too.
That’s what my speaking is about. That’s what my life is about.
Ready to create change?
I’ve seen what pressure can do — and I’ve seen what’s possible when people are equipped to rise above it.
Let’s bring that breakthrough to your school.