Miracle Mason: Update #3

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Update #3

I just a very brief update:

12:45 The heart is in and beating!!!

1:00 They are working on closing Mason.

We will talk with surgeon Dr. Reinhartz around 2:30.

Prayers are keeping us comforted. Thank you!

16 comments:

Moffitt Fam said...: How AMAZING!!! I am having goose bumps just reading your post! What a blessing to have the whole family together!! Continued prayers for your whole family!!; April 4, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Kaidence's Mommy said...: Yeah for your family and Mason's begining to a new life. We have many HOPES for a HAPPY, JOYFUL, and ENERGETIC life for Mason.; April 4, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Teresa said...: Hooray!!! That is AMAZING news! We love you and your family. Mason is a strong boy and he is going to do awesome!; April 4, 2010 at 2:29 PM
Allison said...: Absolutely wonderful news!! Thanks for keeping us posted! :); April 4, 2010 at 2:34 PM
Philip & Heather Baskett said...: We are so happy for you and your family. We will continue to keep Mason and your entire family in our prayers.

The Basket Family; April 4, 2010 at 2:36 PM
Mindi D said...: Awesome! I was briefly telling my family about your story at our Easter dinner and it gave me chills. Thinking about going from no hope, to hope, to being dissapointed that he was spending Easter in the hospital to this! What a miracle. Miracle Mason, that is him :); April 4, 2010 at 2:37 PM
cici said...: What a beautiful perfect gift from God this Easter Sunday.
Praying for rapid healing of your little Miracle boy; April 4, 2010 at 2:39 PM
Maurizio Oliveri said...: Just learning your kid situation by means of Paul Cardall. Many many prays to all of you! Best wishes from Italy!; April 4, 2010 at 2:43 PM
Staci said...: This is one of my many prayers that has been answered! Two days ago, I had a daydream that Mason was getting a heart and then my sister called me today to give me the news. I will keep you all in my prayers!

Staci (angel Bridger's mom); April 4, 2010 at 2:56 PM
Shari said...: Praise the Lord for the great news! Prayers answered for beautiful Mason!; April 4, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Mrhduffin said...: I just stumbled upon your blog. Best wishes and prayers for your little boy from Arizona!; April 4, 2010 at 3:26 PM
Anonymous said...: So excited for this amazing blessing. We have been watching your story and hoping for this outcome. Best wishes and thoughts to you and your family.; April 4, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Me said...: My heart is so full of joy for your sweet little family! What a beautiful tender mercy of our Savior to have your whole family there with little Mason. We will continue to pray for Mason. The love and grace of our Savior is mighty. A mighty miracle for a mighty young man. We will look forward to many posts of progression and happy news. We will keep your donor family in our prayers as well. Much love, Hilary Cook; April 4, 2010 at 3:58 PM
Shanna said...: I am so excited for you guys! how neat is it that He recieves his new heart on Easter Sunday! What a precious gift! You guys are in my thoughts and prayers!

congrats

Shanna; April 4, 2010 at 4:02 PM
sheila said...: Brings tears to my eyes. I am so happy for your family. So glad you are all there together at this time.

Love and Prayers
Sheila; April 4, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Marcae said...: Yea, yea, yea! I am so happy to hear the wonderful news. Many thoughts and prayers for your family and Miracle Mason!!! What a happy Easter!; April 4, 2010 at 4:07 PM

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Mason Andrew Strickland was born on November 30, 2007! He came 3 weeks early at the American Fork Hospital, weighing in at 5 lbs 8 oz . He is the baby brother to 3 brothers and 1 sister. At 3 days old he became very sick at home. After a trip by LifeFlight to Primary Children's Hospital that afternoon he was diagnosed with a variation of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Mason will need at least 3 open heart surgeries before he is 3 years old. He had his first surgery when he was 10 days old and spent 7 weeks in the hospital. He had his 2nd surgery at 6 months old and only spent 1 1/2 weeks in the hospital. Mason also has issues with arythmias which has caused him some scary moments, a 2nd trip by Life Flight, and more time back at Primary's PICU. We feel blessed for everyday we have him here with us. We have created this blog to follow our journey through life with our little broken hearted baby, Miracle Mason (with a few tid bits about the rest of the family too).

It's now October 3, 2009 and Mason's story needs be updated. In April 2009 Mason was diagnosed with lowered heart function (or heart failure). From April through now he has been on medications and oxygen to help improve his heart function. In August, with no improvement seen in his echos we began the process to list him for a heart transplant. He is unable to get the 3rd surgery (or Fontan) as planned because of his heart failure. On Sept, 3, 2009 he had his pre-transplant Heart Cath (the last thing needed to list him for a new heart). The results that day have left us heart broken. He was diagnosed with severe pulmonary vein stenosis and is unable to receive a heart transplant. He will now need a heart-lung transplant, if he is a viable candidate. Since Primary's does not have a heart-lung program we are seeking opinions from other hospitals (outside of Utah) at this time. Even though we are extremely saddened with his most recent diagnosis, we continue to find joy in our journey with our special child of God, our sweet Mason.

(In November 2009 we learned of another possible option for Mason. CHOP and Stanford have both talked to us about doing just a heart transplant to his own one healthy lung. At this time we are exploring that option and the possibility of it being another true miracle for "Miracle Mason".)

February 16, 2010 Mason and I (Mom) flew to Palo Alto, California to do a few last tests and get Mason listed for a new heart(heart only!! not heart-lung!!) at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. We are excited and nervous to start this new chapter of our journey.

March 3, 2010 Mason was officially listed on the Heart Transplant waiting list as a 1B status. Mason and I will wait here in Palo Alto until he receives the miraculous gift of a new heart. We miss our family at home very much!

April 4, 2010 (Easter morning) Mason received his new heart. It was the best Easter gift our family could ever be given. We are eternally grateful to his donor family who during their time of loss selflessly gave our Mason a second chance at life.

July 16, 2010 Mason and Mom flew home to Utah to reunite with their family. Mason is still very immunosuppressed in order to avoid rejection of his new heart, but definitely happy to be home playing w/ his brothers and sister!!

January 30, 2012 Mason continues to do well with his new heart. He finally came off of steroids after 18 months in October 2011! Mason is walking with the help of a walker in hopes to walk alone soon. He conitues to have a few episodes of a pneumonia each year, probably due to only having one working lung. He also has a few new issues we are facing .....sleep apnea and severe scoliosis. But, over all he continues to face life with a fight and a big smile!

April 11, 2012 Mason had back surgery because his scoliosis had worsened to a curve of 75% (normal is 0-15%). He had two rods placed in his back, better known as the VEPTR (Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib). It was a rough recovery, but after about 8 weeks he was feeling much better. Every 6 months he will go in for a minor surgery to extend the rods to keep up with his growth.

May 25, 2012 We finally got into a sleep doctor and she diagnosed Mason with sleep hypoxia, rather than actual apnea. Because of narrow airways his sats dip frequently through out the night, but he doesn't completely stop breathing (good news!). So he was perscribed to be on one liter of oxygen at night while asleep.

July 20, 2012 Mason finally walks all on his own!!

Not a day goes by that we don't think about Mason's donor family who has given our little miracle boy the gift of LIFE! Thank you where ever you are!