‘A true little hero.’ SLO County boy battles leukemia after Labor Day diagnosis
Templeton resident Mason Watson is an upbeat, athletic first-grader who loves the outdoors, fishing, Legos and Spider-Man.
He’s also a critically ill cancer patient being treated at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.
The 6-year-old with the gap-toothed smile has been diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a type of cancer in which “the bone marrow makes too many immature lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell,” according to Cancer.gov.
His doctors expect his treatments will take at least three years to complete, his parents said.
In the meantime, the boy and his family are drawing strength and support — financial and emotional — from friends and strangers through a GoFundMe page and other means.
The Watsons have health insurance through Janice Watson’s job as a critical care nurse at Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton. (Her husband, Patrick, is a stay-at-home dad.) But travel, housing, food and other non-medical expenses aren’t covered by that policy, putting a huge drain on the family’s finances.
Their friend Jennifer Martinez launched a fundraiser via GoFundMe to help cover some of those costs.
As of Saturday afternoon, the “Support for Mason” fundraiser had raised more than $11,000 toward a $20,000 goal.
Templeton boy diagnosed with leukemia
Mason’s parents have close ties to the Central Coast, spending years living in Cambria and working at Cookie Crock Market. They moved to Templeton in 2013 to raise a family.
The couple has two children: Mason and his 8-year-old sister Phoebe, a third grader. Both kids attend Vineyard Elementary School in Templeton.
According to the Watsons, Mason first showed signs of sickness just before Labor Day weekend.
Mason had a slight fever ranging from 101 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit around Sept. 2, his parents said. They gave the boy some Tylenol, and his fever dropped until the next afternoon, when it rose again.
By Sept. 4, Mason began to complain of pain in his jaw, and the side of his head was swollen.
His dad said Mason’s “behavior was completely normal, completely Mason, but physically it looked like something was wrong.”
The Watsons then took their son to a hospital emergency room. But all the tests came back normal, including a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for COVID-1, according to Patrick Watson.
At that point, Watson said, Mason woke up “screaming in pain” centered in his lower left leg. His dad described “a sharp, shooting pain every minute or so, along with pain in his head.”
When Watson called his wife to report the change in their son’s behavior, she was working a night shift at the direct observation unit of Twin Cities’ critical care unit.
“I kept telling Patrick, ‘Go now! Take him back to the ER!’ ” she recalled.
It was awful “hearing him scream like that, not being able to console him,” Janice Watson said. “Over-the-counter meds weren’t helping, and neither were icepacks.”
As soon as her son and husband left for the hospital, she said, “I knew everything had changed. Our son wouldn’t be home for many days, even weeks.”
At the ER, Mason’s blood tests showed a very elevated white count. The doctor diagnosed him with leukemia.
Patrick Watson choked up describing that moment: “It was heartbreaking.”
Soon Mason was on a helicopter heading to Stanford, accompanied by “a good, trusted team of healthcare professionals,” his mom said.
However, his parents couldn’t fly up with him. “All we could do was wave at the helicopter,” Janice Watson said.
“As soon as he arrived at Stanford, the team Facetimed us,” she said.
Watson said she and her husband “packed what we thought we’d need, and we had to make sure our daughter’s living situation was set.” They arranged for Phoebe to stay with Janice’s sister, Regeina Ibay, who has worked for decades at Hearst Castle in San San Simeon as assistant to the California State Parks district superintendent.
At one point, Mason asked his mother “What do you think is going on with me? I think I got this from COVID.”
She told him “Your cells are making bad cells. They’re making a mistake and keep on making the same mistake,” explaining that his treatments eventually would keep that from happening.
First grader undergoes chemotherapy
Mason will get steroid therapy for 28 days, his dad said, and is on a chemotherapy treatment plan.
Doctors released Mason from the hospital on Sept. 6, but for at least five weeks, he and his family must live within 30 minutes of Stanford so he can continue treatments and get fast emergency care if there are any complications.
For now, the family is calling Ronald McDonald House at Stanford home.
“I’m happy he’ll be out of the hospital, for his mental well-being,” Janice Watson said of her son. “He’s been Facetiming his friends and classroom. His teacher, Krissy Lorz, has been absolutely phenomenal.”
“Mason is doing fine,” his dad said. “He’s tired from his chemo ... but in good spirits. The doctors said to monitor him and watch for infection and fever.”
Janice Watson said she was told this type of leukemia has a 98% rate of remission. So the family is holding onto that hope, and each other.
Patrick Watson said Mason “is feeling well, moving right along” and his tests “are trending in the right direction.
“He misses his friends and his sister. He’s a smart young man who’s been very brave. He’s a true little hero, the way he’s handling this, better than I’d be able to handle it myself, I think.”
How to help Mason and his family
To contribute to the GoFundMe fundraiser for Mason Watson and his family, go to https://gofund.me/c1fc5e51.
