How did Mason get Leukemia?

Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects the blood.  Cancer, for general purposes is something that goes nuts in your body.  This can be your bones, breast, colon, brain, pretty much any major organ in your body.  Leukemia is basically your bone marrow, where blood is made, just going crazy and manufacturing Blasts (mutated bad cells).  Instead of manufacturing white blood cells which fight infection, platelets which heal cuts and bruises, or hemoglobin which carries Oxygen to muscles.  Instead it makes mutated cells that have no purpose and start to damage organs.

So how did Mason get Leukemia?  Short answer, we will never know.

Everyone is born with the ability to have cancer.  Some forms of cancer, genes and heredity make the person more susceptible to get cancer.  In the case of Leukemia, there is no proof that heredity has anything to do with it.  Something as simple as a strange viral infection can set off the cancer.  Leukemia and cancer are not contagious.

The more interesting story is, how did we discover Mason had Leukemia.

We think there are several things that might indicate when Mason started having symptoms of Leukemia, but we will never have a final date.

We think things began in late October or early November 2002.  Sit back an read an interesting timeline of events.  Those of you with kids might want to take note of types of things to look for.  After reading this section, please visit our advice page to see what we think we might have done different.

August 2002 - Mason falls in a hotel lobby in Germany.  Injures his back, but is still mobile for the rest of the trip.  Complains occasionally about back pain.

September 2002 - After waiting an eternity to get an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic specialist, someone takes and X-ray to see why Mason might be having back pain.  X-ray reveals nothing out of the ordinary and no treatment is prescribed.

October 26, 2002 - Mason attends a birthday party for Cooper Jamieson.  Mason hurts himself on one of those inflatable jumpy things.  He is not able to bare weight on his left foot.  A trip to the emergency room reveals no breaks, but there is a little concern about "toddler fractures" which is a very small crack in the bone that may not initially appear on X-rays.  Mason is sent home and take Motrin for a few days.  He starts walking on his leg again after a day, but has a limp and turns his toe out for the next month.  Possibly the first sign of bone problems.

November 5, 2002 - We take Mason to Dr. Keopke an Asthma and Allergy specialist because Mason has gradually shown symptoms of Asthma such as coughing fits when exercising or exposure to cold air.  He is diagnosed with moderate Asthma, and allergies to dogs, cats, grass, and mold (just like daddy).  Mason is also given a skull X-ray to determine if he has an infection in his sinuses.  A severe sinus infection is shown in both sinuses.  Mason is to be given Nebulizer treatments for Asthma for the next month and antibiotics to fight the sinus infection.  He is also given a rescue inhaler that can be taken prior to exercise.

November 27, 2002 - Checkup with Dr. Keopke (asthma and allergies) reveals that his asthma is now under control thanks to the Nebulizer treatments.  He still has a severe sinus infection, and they decide to switch antibiotics.  Possibly first sign this Mason's immune system can't fight infections.

November 29, 2002 - We all go to Mexico for 10 days vacation.  We all have a blast, Mason seems like a happy kid and has no major issues other than a limp on his left foot.

December 12, 2002 - We visit the Orthopedic Surgeon (Dr. Kumar) again to have Mason's left leg checked, particularly why is he still limping?  X-Rays reveal that he had compression fractures on the top and bottom of the femur of his left leg.  These are basically healed up, but are evidence that he hurt his leg at the birthday party on October 26.  Doctors say that had these been discovered at the emergency room in October, they wouldn't have done anything different (no casts, etc).

January 7, 2003 - Mason stumbles at the Disney store at Park Meadows and refuses to put weight on his left foot again.

January 8, 2003 - A trip to the orthopedic surgeons reveal that there are no breaks with Mason's left ankle, but they decide to put a cast around it to make sure it heals properly.

January 22, 2003 - Two weeks after the cast is put on Mason's leg it is removed.  Doctors say he should start walking on it again in a week or so.

February 4, 2003 - We go back to the Orthopedic Surgeon's office because Mason is still not using his left leg.  After evaluation, they believe he just needs "gait training" to teach him to use his leg again.  The prescribe Physical Therapy.

February 11, 2003 - Mason's first day of Physical Therapy does not go well.  The physical therapist attempts to work with Mason's left leg which had been in the cast. Mason is in tears and ends up pointing to his right leg as the one in pain.  This is highly unusual as he had been bearing weight on his right leg for months.  He will not stand at all, so we deicide a visit to the Urgent care facility at Littleton Hospital is in order.  What follows is sleepless nights and a whirl wind tour of ER's.

• Dr. Lori Stewart sees Mason in the Urgent care facility at Littleton Hospital.  After hearing the entire saga listed above, she orders X-rays and blood tests.
• X-Rays come back normal, but blood tests look strange.
• Dr. Stewart reviews the blood tests and contacts Hematologists at Children's Hospital in Denver.  After a long deliberation of sending them the tests, they think it is very urgent to send Mason to Children's Hospital in Denver immediately.  We drive down to Children's hospital and are admitted to the ER where more blood tests are performed.  We credit Dr. Stewart for saving Mason's life in ordering blood tests which other doctors and specialists had failed to do.

February 12, 2003 (continued from previous night)

• At 2:00 in the morning, physicians in the ER tell us based on his blood work that Mason appears to have Leukemia, but more tests are needed.
• At around 4:00, Dr. Chris Porter, a Oncologist Fellow arrives and takes a look at the blood smear.  He is not able to conclusively say whether it is Leukemia, but discusses what Leukemia means.  We must wait for a Pathologist to make a conclusive determination in the morning.
• At around 6:00 am there is enough proof to warrant an admission of Mason to the Oncology ward.  We are put in room 555 where we spend the next 10 days and 9 nights.
• At 9:00 am Dr. Porter admits conclusively that Mason has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and what it means to us.  He notes, that of all cancers, it is the most treatable and has an 85-90% cure rate.
• Our primary doctors is assigned as Dr. Julie Fleitz, attending Oncologist.

Post notes:

The pain that Mason had on his right foot turned out to be an infection on the tissue around his ankle.  Doctors were concerned that the infection was actually in the bone, so a Bone Scan was done using a Gamma Scan.