Obituary

He lived to extremes

Joe Polchinski, 25, dies from cancer

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Whenever Joseph Michael Polchinski II did something, he did it to extremes.

“It was like if he was going to get a tattoo he was going to get the biggest tattoo in the world,” said his sister, Jessica Zeoli. “That’s what I mean when we say like extreme. Like he wanted a truck, he didn’t just want a truck. He wanted a lifted diesel truck. He didn’t want just a motorcycle. He wanted the fastest gixxer motorcycle that could do pop a wheelies or whatever. If he wanted to buy his girlfriend a ring, he didn’t want to buy her a ring. He wanted to buy her the biggest diamond engagement ring he could find.”

Almost always wearing his gold chain and a fitted cap, Joe’s zest for life and generosity extended from his friends and family to strangers. He once took his sweatshirt off and gave it to an elderly woman because it was raining. Another time he sent his girlfriend a $130 edible arrangement with a card, teddy bears, a balloon, chocolates and chocolate-dipped strawberries because she had a bad day at work.

“He would do anything for any of us,” said his sister Larissa Polchinski. “Anything for any of his friends. Anything for strangers... A genuine selfless person... He didn’t have one enemy.”

Sadly, Joe’s life was cut short on Sept. 6, when he died of brain cancer that grew from a childhood tumor. He was 25.

Joe was born on June 26, 1990 to parents Mike and Lena Polchinski, and grew up with his family in Oceanside. When he was 8, doctors found a 10-cenitmeter tumor on his brain, which made him blind in his right eye. Two years of radiation and surgery sent him into remission.

He played many sports growing up, including wrestling, baseball and football, and graduated from Oceanside High School in 2008. He loved trucks, bikes and racecars. “Anything fast,” said Zeoli. “Anything that had a motor and could go fast he was like locked into.”

He eventually moved to Florida and enrolled at Universal Technical Institute Automotive Trade School, with plans to become a mechanic.

He met his girlfriend, McKenzie Bowles, through a Facebook group for Ormond Beach, Florida. They chatted online for months but she didn’t believe he was a real person until he drove to her door. They got together on Sept. 6, 2014.

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