Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
Many of you know Dr. Charles Mason as a friend, fellow student, teammate, colleague, or as your family dentist. Some of you know him as your Sunday School teacher, fellow church member, and community leader. Those of us in his family know him as our loving Dad, Granddaddy, Brother, or Husband. All of us know him as a sincere, sold-out disciple of Jesus Christ, a wise, thoughtful, and generous friend, and a consummate gentleman.
As many of you are aware, Charles was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia (or LBD) and Parkinson's Disease several years ago. Though LBD shares some characteristics in common with Alzheimer's Disease, it also has some unique challenges associated with it that are not present with Alzheimer's.
You can learn more about LBD here:
https://www.lbda.org/category/3437/what-is-lbd.htm. The following article also gives some helpful information:
https://www.lbda.org/content/10-things-you-should-know-about-lbdAs you can imagine, for those of us in the family it has been very difficult watching Charles's LBD develop and his symptoms grow progressively worse over this past couple of years. After retiring from dentistry and selling the dental practice in Decaturville, TN, where Charles and Pat had lived for 21 years, they moved to Spring Hill, TN, a suburb of Nashville, to be closer to their sons Phillip and Robbie and their families as well as to have easier access to more advanced healthcare opportunities. In the meantime, his daughter Kelly and her family in Memphis are close enough to visit.
After a relatively good first couple of years in Spring Hill enjoying some precious moments with family—ballgames and school events with grandkids, family vacation on the beach, visits to Memphis, church activities, golf, and even taking up boxing with Phillip—in the past six months Charles's health has taken a turn downward. Throughout this journey of uncertainty and loss, however, Charles has continued to do what he has been able to do to point his family and those who have come in contact with him to a closer relationship with Jesus. Even though his memory comes and goes, whenever he reads the Word of God or hears the name of Jesus, there is a twinkle in his eye.
A few weeks ago, he developed a new infection which led to him being admitted at Vanderbilt Hospital and subsequently transferred to a local rehabilitation hospital where he spent two weeks. On Wednesday, May 3, he was discharged from the rehabilitation hospital and is currently at home. On the heels of this new development, Charles's condition has progressed to the point he now requires 24-hour care.
Please pray for Charles, Pat, and the rest of the family for wisdom and strength from above in the days ahead as they deal with the realities of the later stages of Lewy Body Dementia.
Please visit the gallery of photos and feel free to post any notes of encouragement you may want to leave in the Well Wishes or comment sections at the bottom of this page.
__________________________________
Two of Charles's favorite passages of Scripture are:
Ephesians 3:14–19: "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
