Mason's Nation

My name is Ben Durand and I'm writing this on behalf of my son Mason Durand. Mason is a typical 15 year old young man who was involved in Football and
Basketball and enjoys fishing, dirt bike's, riding the side by side and being with
friends and family. Mason was diagnosed with something not so typical, Ewing
Sarcoma a rare bone cancer that typically occurs in children and young adults
with fewer than 1000 cases per year. His case is even more rare as it usually
shows itself on the limbs and mainly pelvis, Mason's starts on the 2nd rib down on the left side of his chest.

Mason went to the Dr on Tuesday Dec 8th for a growth on his chest that was believed to be related to a prior sports injury ( Ewing Sarcoma is often misdiagnosed as sports injury). A CT scan was scheduled for the following day. We received a call 
Tuesday Dec 9th at 5:30pm with the Nurse Practitioner giving us the diagnosis.
Everything has been a whirlwind since that time. 

Mason's treatment consists of 3 stages.

    1) A minimum of 6 rounds of Chemo to shrink the tumor
    2) Surgery to remove the tumor and the rib bone associated and possibly the 
          ribs above and below.
    3) Followed up with more chemo and possibly radiation.

The Chemotherapy treatments consist of 2 day cycles and 5 day cycles 
alternating every 2 weeks which require him to be admitted during those times.
There are a multitude of other medications for when he is home including daily 
shots to boost his white blood cell counts.

Mason is currently finishing his 4th round of chemo as I type this with hopes of going home tomorrow for 9 days before the next treatment. With cancer and
treatment many things can affect the body including nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, thrush, and fevers to name a few. Any of these things can lead to us returning to the hospital as did happen after the first round of chemo leading up to an 18 
day stay at UC Davis.

Covid 19 has made the situation a little harder on the family as only 2 visitors per stay are allowed at the hospital and not at the same time. This has made it to 
where myself and his mother Jill are the only ones who can see him or stay with
him while he is admitted.  Thankfully with the help of his mom and my amazing 
job I am still able to work a little more than half of my normal schedule. 

Mason has 3 other siblings Tysa Durand (18) Brayden Durand (16) and Otto 
Gregg (7) His Father Ben Durand Mother Jill Durand and her husband Troy 
Gregg.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Any support monetarily or not is 
greatly appreciated. Positive thoughts can and do heal! 

Any funds received will be used for co-pays, parking ($18 a day minimum, more if you want to leave and come back),  food while at the hospital, fuel, and misc.
expenses. 

If you have not had the pleasure of meeting this young man yet you're missing
out! He is courageous, caring, polite, and always thinks of others. Thank you again for taking the time to read through this.