(Michael Oher has 12 biological siblings)

Michael Oher has a truly inspiring story to tell. A story of perseverance and determination, of his own to change his lot in life and not succumb to old vices, and that of the family that took him in. Michael Oher grew up as one of 12 biological siblings. Quite literally homeless, Michael Oher was adopted by a supportive family and with them, given a chance to shine.

As for his parents, his father was murdered, and Michael Oher doesn’t speak to biological mother Denise Oher, “I can’t relate to her at all. We’re in different situations now. But for someone to keep doing the same thing, which got all of her kids taken away, it kind of breaks your heart.” While Michael Oher may have a large family with 12 biological siblings, but it is not with them who he identifies most, but with his new family and adoptive siblings Collins Tuohy and Sean Tuohy Jr.

Michael Oher said of his adoptive family, “They’ve got big hearts. To take somebody from my neighborhood into your house? Nobody does that. I don’t think I’d even do that. I’d help you out, but with a daughter and with all the violence and drugs where I come from… they didn’t have to do that. I owe a lot to them.”

In a book covering his life, writer Michael Lewis’ The Blind Side, Michael Oher took issue with the part “About Me Not Being Smart”. The basis of Michael Lewis’ writing the part “about me not being smart” as Michael claims, was based on testing from a difficult time in Michael Oher’s life. Intelligence is a capacity to learn, rather than “knowledge” (how much has been learned), and Michael Oher has shown a great capacity for learning and improving himself.