Our son Jack Mason was born July 18, 2002. He is currently being treated for stage IV neuroblastoma. Jack is an active young boy who loves to race his quarter midget. This year is his second year racing. It was cut short after his diagnosis on May 12, 2009. He was only able to participate in the first 2 races. He was complaining that his belly hurt and his hip was bothering him. I thought it was growing pains or maybe he was just being lazy. We knew something was wrong when he would fall asleep in the middle of the day while all of his friends were out running around. I took him to the pediatrician who checked him out. His doctor noticed a lump on his collar bone and asked Jack if it bothered him. He said it did when his dad buckled his seatbelt in his car. He was also pale, and lost some weight. He laid on the table and the doctor felt his belly. He looked at me with this face I will never forget. He left the room, came back in and handed me his cell phone and told me to call my husband to meet me at the hospital, they have a bed waiting for Jack. I couldn’t believe it. I felt so dizzy, scared, out of breath, cemented down. I dropped our other 2 kids off at my sister’s and headed to the hospital with Jack. When we got there they had to start an IV. Jack was screaming, so the nurse gave him a brand new Hess truck which made him happy. He went in for a CAT scan that night and it showed huge masses in his belly.

The next 4 days were filled with scans, tests, monitors, surgery, line placement, checks. Overall it was a whirlwind of everything. I kept thinking back to when he was in his little onesie pajamas when he was just a baby and I would hold him up over my head and rock him. I was just so overwhelmed with emotions, with everything. It was very difficult to watch him go through this and the whole time he did not complain, only when he had to drink the CT scan dye. He had a wheelchair when we came home because he was weak and his belly hurt after the surgery for the biopsy. He thought it was the coolest thing. Jack started chemotherapy the Monday after we came home. He had so many different medications in his body. This little guy never had anything other than ear infections and strep throat, and all of a sudden he was on 5 different medications! We follow everything we are supposed to be doing, trying to keep him happy, and spirits up. He has a necklace of beads that show what he has been through. Each test, poke, chemotherapy, shot, hair loss, overnight hospital stay, and scan he gets a bead. He is on his second necklace. We are finished with 5 rounds of chemotherapy. We have stayed in the hospital 3 times for fevers. He is scheduled for his surgery to remove the tumors on the 17th of September. He will have one more round of chemotherapy then we schedule his stem cell transplant.

Our friends, family and church have been very supportive and continue to pray for our little man. He is going to pull through this -"FULL PULL CULBERTSON" is on the bracelet that was made for him. His quarter midget clubs have had races in honor of him and our friends put together a tractor pull in his honor. 

Written by Becky Culbertson, Jack’s Mother
09/09

Sadly, Jack passed away on December 21, 2012.