Lindale couple surviving rough patch

Lindale—To say these past few months have been trying for Sydni and Trey Wood would be an understatement. 

In March 2024, the young couple lost their three-week-old son, CJ, to epileptic cardiac arrest. Then, about a month ago, Trey’s newly purchased truck caught fire and exploded. The fire left him him severely burned and unable to work. 

Trey’s wife, Sydni, the owner of Pretty Paws Pet Grooming in Lindale, is unable to work full-time due to her health issues. But the couple believes things will get better. 

The Woods have received support from friends, family, and the entire community. 

“The community has been extremely supportive, everything from donating what they can to spending time at our house,” Sydni said. “The community has been fantastic.  

“We love Lindale. Our son’s buried here. That’s a huge part of why we decided to stay.” 

After losing their son, the Woods took time from work to grieve and support one another. 

“We took time to be by ourselves and reconnect in our marriage, making sure that such a loss didn’t affect us as a couple. A lot of couples lose that when they lose a child,” Sydni said. “When [CJ] passed away, it was completely unexpected.  

“Even when tragedy strikes, bills don’t stop.” 

Several weeks before the truck fire, Trey landed a new job and was working 60 hours a week. He traded in his primary vehicle for the truck. 

He and Sydni were riding in the truck, and when Trey shifted into fourth gear, the engine suddenly died. After pulling to the side of the road, Trey noticed the fuel pump and fuel hose were disconnected and fuel was leaking onto him, the truck, and the ground. 

“The two wires I had hooked up to the fuel pump were both black, so I had no clue which was positive,” Trey said. “There were no markings on the fuel pump or anything.  

“I pulled one of the wires off, and to my luck, it was the positive. When I let go of the positive wire, it came back, arced the frame and blew me about 25 feet away from the truck. I was on fire for about six seconds.” 

Sydni tried to exit the vehicle, but her seat belt was stuck. She freed herself and fell out of the truck, immediately running to help her husband. 

“We both ran from the truck, and at that point, I was not on fire anymore,” Trey said. “My left side got burned because if I had stopped, dropped, and rolled [like you’re taught to do], the ground had fuel on it, and the pavement was 105 degrees, so I would have caught myself back on fire. I used my left arm to pat myself, so I could get the fire out under my belly, right armpit, and right arm, that’s the bad side.” 

Once first responders arrived, Trey, who was severely burned across his face and much of his body, was airlifted via helicopter to a hospital. 

“I came out of it twice on the helicopter. It was an hour-and-a-half flight, and I kept going under,” he recalled. “They had intubated me wrong for my breathing. I was seeing my son, and he was telling me it’s not your time, keep going. I would sit there, focus on my breathing, and I got the strength to breathe past my intubation tube until they got me off the helicopter. 

“When they got me on the ground, they realized there was no oxygen pumping into my intubation tube. When they unloaded me off the helicopter, one of the guys working on me realized I was breathing past my intubation tube. They started ventilating me by hand.” 

Trey has now been at home for several weeks, recovering from his second serious medical situation in the past year. In 2023, he was riding a dirt bike when he was struck by a car and required a double-meniscus repair on one of his knees. 

“They [the doctors] didn’t think he was going to walk again,” Syndi said of Trey. “He’s good at defying odds. He pushes through everything and makes sure he can do what he needs to for his family. He’s staying as strong as he can. 

“It’s crazy, these things keep happening. We are good people. We do anything that we can for anybody we can. He can’t be out in the sun for a year. Even after that, his whole body is going to be much more sensitive.” 

Members of a local church cleaned the Wood’s camper, and a member of their church has been driving Trey to Plano each week for medical appointments. 

“It seems like I have a village around me. I’m not going to lie, it seems like I have support in all directions,” Trey said. “I’ve always been the guy that when somebody calls and needs something, I’m there. It’s crazy for me to be on this side of the ball again. I’m trying [to cope]. 

“A lot of my wounds are healed. I’m on the road to getting my pigmentation back. A lot of people look at me, and they can’t tell that 85 percent of my face got burned off, but I know it happened. Seeing flames across your face, the cab filled with smoke, it was insane. I truly count myself lucky.” 

Even though they are still grieving the loss of CJ, the Woods hope to turn his death into something positive. 

“We have decided to put purpose with his passing. [One] reason we were getting the larger pickup is we were going to start a hound and human bakery that gives profits to research for his condition, epileptic cardiac arrest,” Sydni said. “Epilepsy is not studied in infants until they’re six months old because of their brain development. 

“[We’re] trying share our story so people know that as long as you have a support system and somebody loves you, you really can get through everything. Don’t let go of your faith because that will be the only thing that gets you through.” 

Wood family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for their expenses.