Biography

 Mike Wood is a firefighter with the city of New York (FDNY) since November, 1998.  During his 11 years with the FDNY he has responded to the attack on the World Trade Center on 911, worked on the FDNY Task Force at Ground Zero, and responded to the plane crash in the Rockaway’s a few months later.

 Mike has been married to his wife, Madelyn, for 19 years.  They live on Long Island with their four children; Kathleen, Michael, Thomas, and James.
He ministers as the youth leader at his church and teaches young adult Sunday school. He is active with HonorBound Men’s Ministries and speaks at various men’s breakfasts, and conventions. 

Testimony:

Mike came to the Lord in August of 1987.  He responded to the attack on 911 and was at Ground Zero for several months assisting in the clean-up.  When he first returned home late on September 12th, he felt that he wanted to be back searching for any possible survivors.  He was depressed and didn't want to be away from there.  Madelyn looked at him and said "We need you too.  When you're there, be there.  When you're here, be with us."   She made him realize that he needed to focus on the importance of being there for his family, which helped him keep perspective.

After several months down at Ground Zero, Mike's church family realized they needed some time away.  The church took up a collection and Mike and his family was able to go away for a week of rest.  The day after his return, Mike was back at the firehouse and the call came in for them to go to a plane crash in the Rockaway’s.  Mike was at the plane crash for many hours and called Madelyn when he was returning home.  He briefly told her about what he saw and had to do there.  He told her that he didn't know how he would be able to erase the images from his mind.  He said they were more disturbing to him than anything he had seen at Ground Zero.  She sensed in his voice that this time it was more than he could handle.  She got on the phone and called their Pastor.  The Pastor said he would call Mike when he got home.  When the Pastor called, Mike went into another room and cried to him about the grief he was feeling and had expressed that he didn't know how he would get the images out of his mind.  Mike and Madelyn both remember that their Pastor prayed that the Lord would give Mike peace of mind and that he would give him a good night's rest.  Mike fell asleep in the living-room and, when Madelyn tried to wake him to go to bed, she could not get him to budge.  She said she tried at least 12 times to get him up.  He slept through to the next morning.  He woke feeling well rested and has never, to this day, been bothered by the images he saw that day.