Miracles | Mason Boyd Allen

Mason Boyd Allen came into this world with his tiny back pressed hard against the wall. He was just 26 weeks old. He weighed two pounds, nine ounces. He had very weak lungs, a heart valve open that should be closed, and a grade four cerebral hemorrhage. His daddy, Richie Allen said it best, “ His only hope of survival was and is the Lord.”

It was January 2, 2003 when Heather Allen called her husband at work and told him she was having problems and wanted to go to the hospital. Richie immediately went to her side. They soon arrived at St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe and the staff went to work. Heather and Mason were stabilized but far from out of danger.

On the third day of hospital confinement Heather’s water broke. Mason was only 24 weeks old. Mason’s doctor’s gave him steroids inside the womb to help his lungs develop. They would have to wait and see if it helped. It was a dangerous situation. The hospital staff took all possible measures to prolong Heather’s labor but after two weeks of extraordinary effort, Mason would not wait any longer. At 11:12 p.m. on January 16, 2003, he was born.

As his daddy Richie said, “Mason was delivered into the hands of the Lord, some extremely wonderful doctors and nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of St. Francis Medical Center, and some angels who will always be nameless but never forgotten.

Mason’s birth weight was really pretty good for his gestation period, but not so good for being in this world. Because of his extremely critical condition, testing had to be done constantly. Tiny little Mason just did not have enough blood for all this testing. His blood count decreased to a serious low level. This condition triggered the need for blood transfusions. These blood transfusions provided by LifeShare Blood Centers’ generous volunteer donors kept Mason alive for over three weeks until he was well enough to eliminate some of the testing.

“This is why we wanted to sponsor a replenishment in Mason’s name,” Richie said. “We wanted to honor every donor who helped keep our son alive and to thank LifeShare for making the blood available. This was our way to trying to give back to the people who gave to us. It was the least we could do,” he added. Over 30 units of much needed blood were collected at Mason’s blood drive on February 19, 2003. One day he will know that he was helped by anonymous donors and that he helped in return by inspiring his family and friends of his parents to give blood.

After two weeks in NICU at St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe, Mason was transferred to the highly respected Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. As you may have seen, this hospital was the subject of a six hour broadcast by the ABC network last year. It is also featured on the Discovery Health Channel. It is one of the premier children’s hospitals in the nation. Mason had surgery immediately to close a heart valve that stays open prior to birth to allow blood to bypass the lungs but closes before birth to allow blood to circulate through the lungs and be oxygenated. Mason did not have time for his to close properly before birth. His condition and appearance immediately improved. Additional treatment would follow.

Richie Allen, Mason’s daddy had this to say, “With the help of a strong family, church family, friends, medical staff and a very good God, Mason was now on his way to recovery. Heather, my sons Trey & Dalton, and I owe a great deal of thanks to everyone involved in Mason’s life, but no one deserves more thanks than those nameless individuals who took about thirty minutes out of their busy lives to donate blood. Even though we will probably never know who they are or what they do in their lives, we will always see them when we look at Mason. I can honestly say that to give blood is to give life. I want to thank you on behalf of myself, Heather, Trey & Dalton, and most especially on behalf of Mason, for helping keep him alive. It will be a long time before Mason will be able to understand how many everyday heroes came to his rescue, but when he is old enough, you can be assured that we will be telling him.”

Update: During the first week in June, Richie and Heather were able to bring Mason home from Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, AR for the first time. They were elated as well as apprehensive, but their hope was high. On June 12th, they became concerned that Mason was just not doing as well as they thought he should. They immediately took him back to Little Rock where he was admitted again to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. As of this writing, June 18th, Mason is still undergoing treatment. He is scheduled for additional surgery on June 20th. Richie, Heather, Trey & Dalton Allen are all directly affected by Mason’s struggle for life and health. Trey & Dalton have had to be away from their mama and daddy much more than they want to but this is their sacrifice for their little brother. Richie and Heather continue to have great faith and hope, but they are under a high degree of stress trying to meet their own day to day responsibilities, comfort and care for their two boys at home and be with little Mason as much as possible. They continue to believe that Mason is in God’s hands. They covet your prayers for Mason and for their family.

Archie Halley, blood donor & drive chairperson in Oak Grove, LA contributed to this article.