Michael lives in Dublin with his wife, Jan, and four children. Jan is a CLL patient whose journey with CLL began in 2011 at the age of 39. They realised at that time that they needed to get informed in order to get the best treatment plan available.

Traveling to international CLL conferences led Michael to become an advocate to help patients. He joined the CLL Advocates Network steering committee from the beginning and is now the Communications Officer.

Michael and Jan along with other CLL patients are founding members of  CLL Ireland a registered charity to help other patients affected with CLL and raise awareness.

Michael strongly believes in patient advocacy and the sharing of information with a view to better treatments and prognosis for CLL patients.