Mark Wood Family

Wood Strong Facebook Group 

Mark Wood is not only a father, a husband and a son, he is a great friend.   Mark is just one of those people that care deeply for the people around him.  Whether you are family, friend or just meeting him for the first time, you will walk away knowing Mark cares about you.  Mark is the most patient person I know.  He is always calm, but assertive when he needs to be.   He may come across as quiet but believe me he is just sitting back taking it all in.  You always feel like you are being heard when you talk with Mark.  Although Mark & Elizabeth went to the same high school they didn't really know each other.  It wasn't until their mutual friends, Bob & Sonja Perschall's, wedding on March 4, 1995 that they really met and started to get to know each other.  Mark & Elizabeth got married on May 3, 1997.  They welcomed their 1st born son, Zachary, on October 4, 2001, their 2nd son, Brandon, was born February 24, 2005 and soon followed their daughter, Emmalee, June 22, 2006.  Mark enjoys spending time with each of his children, from fishing, hunting to going to volleyball & gymnastics...and everything in between.  He truly enjoys his children and everything they have to offer.  

In September 2019 Mark started losing weight and feeling ill often. After a few drs appointments and a few tests ran with no results he finally couldn't take the pain any longer and went to the E.R. on October 13, 2019. After more tests and more blood work they found spots on Mark's liver. On October 15, 2019 Mark went in for a colonoscopy and endoscopy where they then found 2 masses. Biopsies were taken at that time. On October 18, 2019 Mark received that dreaded phone call stating he needed to call his wife and come into the drs office. Elizabeth and Mark were then told Mark has stage 4 Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of his bowels and liver. They spoke to the oncologist and on October 28, 2019 Mark started his first round of chemo treatment. He continued a cycle of 3 days of treatments and 2 weeks off of treatments (treatments every 21 days).  On December 13th he had a CT scan that showed the cancer was reacting to the chemo.  Mark continued treatment through February and March 5, 2020 the PET scan, that showed the cancer had reacted well to the chemo and was no longer active.   Mark was starting to feel pretty good and decided to return to work on June 9.  He had another CT scan on June 15.  Although Mark was starting to feel ill again and was starting to lose weight again, he never thought that the CT scan would show what it did.  He and Elizabeth expected the scan to show that Marks cancer was active again, but it showed much more than that.  The CT scan showed not only that the cancer was active, but that it also was now in his lymph nodes, his hip bone and more spots on his liver.  Mark began an even stronger chemo treatment on June 25th.  Unfortunately Mark had a reaction to the treatment and they had to stop the chemo and treat his reaction.  Mark was then given a medication to counteract his reaction to the chemo for his next chemo treatment.  Thankfully that medication did what it was suppose to do and on July 9th Mark was able to continue his chemo treatment as planned.  He will have treatments every other Thursday for now.  This treatment has already been hard on Mark & his family. He continues to feel the fatigue and other side effects from the treatments.  Unfortunately Mark is not able to return to work as planned either. 
On July 15, 2020 Elizabeth made a phone call to the University of Iowa Health Care Cancer Services in the Quad cities for a 2nd opinion.  She received a phone call on July 16, 2020 that they will see him and made an appointment for  Monday, July 20, 2020.  We are all hopeful for Mark and his family, but with this new hope come new bills.  I am asking that you consider helping the Wood family out with these new costs that they will incur such as hotel expenses, fuel costs & food costs.  Any amount is appreciated.  Please check out "Wood Strong" facebook page for the most recent updates on Mark's condition.

What he has is incurable, but with aggressive treatment it is possible to put it in remission. This is what we can hope for. Right now Mark will continue to stay in good spirits along with his loving wife and 3 children.