Gary Michelson of Found Animals Foundation is a story teller

When I first heard about Gary Michelson in 2006 I did some research and saved my data to a folder. I dug up the folder. I have been comparing what he said in the past to what he's saying now. He is  a bit of a story teller. Some of these things are not important like when he recently said he has 35 full time employees at Found Animals Foundation when his tax return shows five to seven.

The real story that seems to have changed over time is the story about his grandmother with the spine condition. In 2005 he said she merely could not feel hot and cold. He said he once saw her burn herself on the stove. In 2007 the story gets more theatrical. She supposedly for some silly reason placed her hand on the lit stove and burned herself. In 2012 it gets even more dramatic. She places her hand on the lit stove for some reason and her hand is on fire. She has to extinguish it.

From 2005: "Michelson remembers watching his grandmother laying her hand on a hot stove and burning herself because of a spinal deformity which did not allow her to feel hot or cold in her extremities.  At that moment, the door opened when his grandmother told him he would be a doctor one day, and he did."

From 2011: "Michelson vividly recalls the childhood event in Philadelphia that set him on his path to medicine: His grandmother suffered from a crippling spinal deformity that made it impossible for her to distinguish between hot and cold in her extremities. One day she was in her kitchen preparing lunch for him when he smelled something bitter. His grandmother's hand, touching the stove's flame, had caught fire without her knowing. Michelson screamed. His grandmother doused her hand in water and delivered the words that would change his life."

 

"She said, 'You'll be a back doctor and you'll fix this for me,' " he recalled. "I was probably in second or third grade."

It sounds to me like Gary made up part of this story or at least embellished it. Nerve damage can cause one to lose the ability to sense hot and cold. It would not cause someone with such nerve damage to stupidly put their hand on a lit stove while they are cooking. Never damage does not cause stupidity. It also wouldn't cause blindness or the inability to smell something burning. Burning flesh does not smell bitter. I also find it hard to believe her hand is on fire, little Gary screams, she douses the flames with water, carries on as if nothing happened telling him he'll be a back doctor some day. He makes his grandma sound like Fire Marshall Bill.

It would be possible for one to burn their hand on a lit stove. It is not possible for one's hand to be on fire from touching a lit stove. You would have to leave your hand in the flame for a while or have lighter fluid, oil on your hand to actually catch fire. Even when monks light themselves on fire they need to douse themselves with gasoline, lighter fluid. I have made banana flambé before on the stove in a pan. You need super hot butter, 1 oz of accelerant (rum) then a lit match to get it to ignite. Even if you get too big a flame by using 2 oz of rum, the fire is short lived. At most you would burn the hair off your arm if you had any.

A last note. His grandmother said he would "fix this for me." He didn't. I don't believe he's fixed it for anyone. So far it seems he made a bunch of patents just so he can sue people to make money. If he really cared about helping them, he'd be sharing his patents, data. He'd open a hospital and provide free back surgery to crippled people.

I will be posting more about what Gary Michelson tells people and the actual truth. I used to believe every word when I first met him. After realizing he was lying I stopped believing everything. Now I barely believe anything he says. He's living in his own reality world where he's the brilliant philanthropic hero when that is not the case. Many writers and others have pointed this out in articles and lawsuits over many years.