#MasonStrong
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Mason’s story started in August 2018 when he started to have debilitating headaches follow by nausea and vomiting. There was no pattern, rhyme or reason we could see for these episodes. We took him to the doctor a few times with no answers other than he is a healthy boy.
When the episodes became more frequent, sometimes multiple times a day, we went back to the doctor in late October. We were told Mason would be referred to a neurologist but they would not see him without Mason having an CT scan. We scheduled a scan for Oct 31st. That morning we went in and thought we would be out in about an hour. The radiologist who did the scan told Darrin he saw a mass on Mason brain and he was admitting him.
From that point we got admitted into Phoenix Children’s hospital for an MRI and then met Mason’s Neurosurgeon who told us he would be needing Brain Surgery the next morning.
Mason had surgery Nov 2nd to resect the tumor in his brain. The surgeon was told us he would be aggressive, but not so aggressive that he would be damaging good brain tissue. After surgery we knew he did not get all the tumor out but the doctor was very confident this was just a grade 1 benign non-cancerous tumor.
Darrin and I stayed in the hospital with Mason for 9 days through his recovery. We were sent home on Nov 8th. Recovery was slow. We waited and waited - 3 weeks of waiting - for pathology. We finally got a call Dec 12th. We were told some of the tumor acts like a grade 1 benign non-cancerous tumor and some of it acts like a grade 4 Glioblastoma cancerous tumor. So really they had no clue what the tumor was.
On December 17th Mason was having a super tough day with uncontrollable headaches, nausea and vomiting. He had a few episodes a couple days before this. Darrin and I put a call into the neurosurgery team. We were told to go to the ER for another CT. We got that done here in Tucson. The team didn’t like the way the CT looked so we were admitted into Phoenix again. The doctors wanted an MRI, and it revealed Mason’s tumor had grown exponentially over 5 weeks. He had a second surgery on Dec 18th to remove the tumor again. This time being more aggressive, the surgeon was able to get the majority of the tumor out. Because this tumor grew back so fast, the doctors are treating it as a higher grade cancer.
Still no confirmation on what this tumor is. Mason will be starting radiation 5 days a week for 6 to 8 weeks. After that 3 rounds of chemo. All this treatment will be done in Phoenix. Mason and I will be spending a few months there. Darrin and Lily will be in Tucson and able to come visit on the weekends
Update 4/18/19
Mason went through 6 weeks of radiation and chemo. Jan 18th - Feb 18th. He took a 5 week treatment break Feb 18th - March 25. Mason started a new course of chemo treatment on March 25th. We do 1 week of 2 heavy chemo meds and then have 5 weeks with no chemo. This 6 weeks is 1 round of chemo (42 days) the plan is to continue this for 6 rounds. ETA been February 2020.
Mason on April 15th had a massive 25 mins seizure landing is at Tucson’s Diamond Children’s hospital.
We got results from Masons MRI 4/18/19 There is definitely tumor growth. The tumor is grown toward the Brian stem which make it Inoperable. Mason will start IV chemo 5/13/19 every Monday up at Phoenix Children’s hospital. Will be do the IV chemo until his next MRI on June 24th
Organizer
Janelle Fletcher
Organizer
Marana, AZ
