Episode 166: The Suffering of a Foster Child with Mike Martyn

Michael Martyn can be summed up in a handful of words. He is a father, a husband, a veteran, a brother to 5, and a former foster child. While these words may be accurate, they give no justice to the many difficult situations and circumstances that Mike had faced throughout his life. At four years old, Mike lost his father to a car accident and continued living with his mother, who by most accounts, wasn’t the tender, caring, loving mother that most moms are. Mike suffered abuse after abuse at the hands of his mother, and multiple stepfathers and boyfriends of his mother. He watched and did his best to defend and protect his 5 younger siblings. Mike had been placed in institutions over a dozen times. He stayed at shelters, group homes, foster homes, couch surfed, and slept on park benches. Mike is now 38 years old and with the help of his last foster father, managed to graduate high school and enter the workforce. Mike successfully completed multiple professional clown training programs where he learned the skills to work as a birthday party clown and found the time to visit sick children at hospitals and was praised by the staff and family as a delight, and a wonderful change for the families and children facing the end of their life. Mike is a graduate of EMT school where he took that training to Lodi, NJ as a volunteer and paid EMT. At the age of 20, Mike joined the NJ Army National Guard. While in the Army, in the summer of 2008, Mike deployed to Camp Bucca Iraq where he served with pride alongside some of the most incredible men and women the United States Army has ever seen. Mike completed his term in the NJ Army Nation Guard in 2012 with the rank of Sergeant. This would prove to be one of the proudest accomplishments according to Mike, but not the most helpful. Mike began attending counseling sessions at the VA hospital in East Orange where he received a diagnosis for PTSD. Mike began a new chapter in his life in 2014 when he met his current wife, Katie. (some apparently call her Lauren (yes they do Mike)) Mike and Katie share 3 beautiful children together, Nora, Hope, and Mikey. Mike now spends his free time with his children.

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