Hello! Mason enjoyed a full almost 10 days at home. He slept in his own bed and perfected the pillow placement. He was able to play video games on his own Playstation console. He spent time snuggling the cats. He ate dinner at the table with the rest of the family. He was an absolute champ about the pills he had to take in the morning and at night.

We received lots of updated information yesterday. I spoke with Mason's lead oncologist, and she confirmed that the results of the bone marrow aspiration last week have shown that the leukemia is gone. The testing for his particular genetic mutation also shows no evidence of disease. This is such amazing news.

Although Mason is technically "in remission," based on the history of the specific disease strain that he has, they know it will come back. The only way to truly "cure" him of the disease is to go through a full bone marrow transplant procedure.

I did spend time talking with the transplant team yesterday. The incredible news is this- all testing has come back and Mason's donor will be his big brother, Alex. The boys are a 100% match, which should not have been a surprise since folks have mistaken them as twins since they were little. We are thrilled with this news, as the matched sibling donor gives Mason the best possible chance at making it through transplant with the fewest number of complications. Thank you Lord!

Regarding timing, there are several appointments that need to be completed and other paperwork that needs to be lined up, so while the transplant team is getting everything ready, we did bring Mason back to the hospital to be checked in today to begin round #3 of chemotherapy. Because the last round went so well, he tolerated the medicine nicely and it did the job of removing the leukemia from his body, the plan is to repeat the same medicine within this round.

We started our morning with a spinal tap/lumbar puncture in order to receive intrathecal chemo directly to the spinal fluid. From there, we were re-admitted to the Aflac unit at Scottish Rite, and Mason will begin the full chemo regimen tomorrow, which includes four days of high dose chemo through his IV, as well as nightly pills.

Following his time at home, he is in great spirits. His nurses were laughing with him non-stop all day. He wasn't thrilled about the school books and homework that I loaded out onto his shelves, but the work will give him some structure to his days and something to do. We do expect this round to be another 28-30 days long, as long as everything goes as it should.

Now that we are inpatient again, I know Mason would love to receive Smilegrams! The link is below- located at CHOA Scottish Rite, Room 573:

The current plan is for Mason to be released to go home after this round of chemo ends, which should be sometime in the first week of September. We will be busy with appointments for a few weeks, and the ultimate goal is to be admitted to the hospital to begin the prep stage for transplant around September 20th.

It's a lot of information. There are some tentative plans in the works and some possible timelines that have been shared. However, we continue to take this journey one day at a time, and on this day, Mason is happy and relaxed after his time at home, feels strong enough to take on the next four days of high dose chemo, and we are set up with the best possible news for the transplant step.

We thank you for continuing to hold Mason and the rest of the family in your prayers- we appreciate it!