Mason’s Story--Monica

August 8th, 2014 was the day my family received the call that my aunt was in labor and it
was the scariest and happiest day of our lives. I remember being excited because I finally had a cousin on my moms' side, although the thing was that he wasn’t due for another two months. My family and I were very scared because we knew my cousin wasn’t fully developed. Once we were at the hospital my cousin had already been born and they named him Mason. He was in the neonatal intensive care unit and I remember seeing so many IV’s on him along with a breathing tube because he wasn’t able to breathe on his own. He was born being only a little bit over 2 pounds. We were told that they had a very slim chance of surviving due to how underdeveloped he was. It was a devastating day, although we knew he could do it and he started to prove us right. 

My cousin began to get better and about two weeks later he was able to breathe on his own. Now he just had to be monitored along with having his feeding tube, but we hoped soon he would overcome that. Then September 20th came and he had to have surgery so he could have a piece of his intestine pokes out of his stomach which is how he could remove waste. This was another complication that was due to his underdevelopment. He now had to live with that until they could see he had improved medically. Finally, in October some good news happened, he

was much better and weighed 6 pounds now. Mason was now able to come home on October 19th, and my whole family was very excited. We couldn’t wait to spend time with him out of the hospital. Of course, he did have frequent doctor appointments to just check upon him, but each time we were told he was fine. 

He hadn’t been admitted to the hospital for something serious for a while, but then in May 2015, he had another surgery. The surgery meant good news because they could now put his intestines back in and he would no longer need a colostomy bag. The surgery went great, but the next couple of days were extremely hard. On post-op day six Mason coded and his doctors had to work hard to revive him. Thankfully, he was able to be saved and he was rushed back into surgery to have a piece of his intestine out of his body again. After that, he was on a breathing tube, fully sedated, and he couldn’t eat on his own. At the end of the month, he received a blood transfusion which kept his heart from dropping and he was getting a lot better now, no longer needing to be intubated. Mason remained in the hospital to be monitored and he had the surgery once again to place his intestines back into his body. This time everything remained good, although during the surgery he had a G-Tube placed in his stomach which is how he would be fed. Three months have passed and he was doing better, he had some scary moments but he made it to be one year old. We were all so grateful that he survived everything he went through and in September he was finally home for good. 

Mason is now five years old and healthy despite him still needing his G-tube. We also found out throughout the years that he is autistic and he has little to no vision in one eye but that hasn’t affected him in any negative way. Thankfully nothing medically serious has happened to him and we hope it continues to stay that way. The reason for telling Mason's story is because he

is the reason why I got inspired to be in the medical field. I was always at the hospital watching everything they did to help him get better and it always fascinated me, although it was very hard to watch because he is my family. I also was inspired by how the nurses and doctors treated us, his family, they always made sure that we knew everything that was happening but also comforted us in hard times. Not only did they build a relationship with Mason but also with us. I loved seeing how they were with him even when they would just come in to visit him when they didn't need to. This also caused me to be interested in pediatrics, work with children, because I think being able to help a patient get better medically and then see them continue their life and get older is very rewarding, although sadly that is not always the case. I have always enjoyed helping others and even though it was a hard situation, I am happy that I was inspired and continued to believe that my cousin could get through it. I realized that I want to be the type of person who doesn’t treat an individual like another patient but takes the time to get to know them and their family because from experience it makes a big difference. I will never forget how much of a fighter my cousin is and how his story continues to inspire me and my future.