Baby Leukemia
R. Derek Bowen
A young family faced with an unimaginable trial found hope and the strength to not only win their battle against cancer but to help others with theirs.
In late July 2007, one- year- old Mason Falk was taken into the doctor with an unusually high fever on a whim of his mother’s intuition. After a series of tests he was sent to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, and no more than 24 hours later, diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, a rare form of cancer that spreads rapidly through the blood and bone marrow. “Leukemia was the last thing I expected to hear out of the doctor’s mouth,” said Michelle Falk, Mason’s mother, “We just had to stay as positive as we could and prepare ourselves for what we were up against.”
As Mason began chemotherapy treatments and couldn’t leave the hospital, Chris and Michelle Falk moved their lives from their home in Kaysville to a condo in Salt Lake City. For the next six months the Falks, along with friends and extended family, stayed with Mason through the grueling chemotherapy treatments. “It’s difficult to see any young child go through what Mason has, let alone your own son,” said Chris Falk, Mason’s dad. “Mason went from being a happy, carefree toddler to a little boy battling for his life.”
After being in a coma for two weeks early on in his treatments, and being stuck in a small hospital room off and on for six months, Mason Falk was diagnosed in remission on January 17, 2008 and released from the hospital for what the Falks hope to be the last time. “He goes back for monthly tests to make sure the cancer cells have not returned., but Mason is back to his normal self and loves being home!” said Michelle Falk.
During their time spent at Primary Children’s, the Falks met many families in similar circumstances, and many that seemed similar but were quite different. Michelle Falk said “we were very fortunate to have good health insurance and live so close to the hospital. Many families that we became close with were from far away and left their jobs and families at home while they came here for treatments.” As they became close with other families at the hospital, Chris and Michelle realized many of them weren’t nearly as fortunate as they were. They decided to start a foundation in Mason’s name that would help families like the ones they met get the resources that they needed to survive their time at Primary Children’s Hospital and other places around the world. The Team Mason Foundation continues to help families today.
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment