I do believe an update to Jason’s Journey is long overdue… For those of you that are involved in our day-to-day lives, you may have been kept up to date in person, but for everyone else, here’s what’s been happening since Dec 27, 2020.

Jason ended up being hospitalized for COVID two more times: 12/30/20 - 1/13/21 at Houston Methodist in downtown Houston, and then 1/23/21-1/27/21 at Houston Methodist in The Woodlands. The stay in Houston was very traumatic, as it was during the height of COVID and he was not allowed to have visitors or have me bring him anything. I had to drop him off not knowing if I would see him again. His experience with his caretakers left a lot to be desired as well. The turning point in his treatment came during the 3rd stay, when a doctor in The Woodlands finally treated him with COVID convalescent plasma. His body never had the ability to make antibodies to the disease, which is why he was sick for so long, so this literally saved his life.

The rest of 2021 was a waiting game. His cancer treatment was put on hold while his body continued to recover from all the cumulative effects of chemo, stem cell transplant, and COVID. He got regular blood work, the occasional video visit with his oncologist, and a few PET scans (Feb, July, Oct). He also received antibody infusions to help his immune system. He had a few setbacks – needed a root canal and new crown in June, and then picked up a bad stomach bug in July. He did feel good enough to help coach the kids’ baseball and softball teams, and start remodeling the guest bathroom though! The October PET scan showed that his cancer was starting to progress again in three places – left collarbone, left iliac crest (hip bone), and left of his spine at the level of the 7th thoracic vertebrae, so the time had come to resume treatment.  In November, a repeat biopsy of the mass near his spine revealed he was still fighting the same thing: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Originally his oncologist team wanted to do another stem cell transplant if his cancer came back, and his brother Daniel had been matched 100%, but while we were in waiting a new treatment had been approved. They decided on CAR T-cell therapy for Jason.

Prepping for CAR-T was a lot like Jason’s other treatments – he had to have all the tests & scans to make sure he was healthy enough to get it – and had to have another bone marrow biopsy (which was cancer-free!). He even received a COVID antibody injection (not the vaccine) to help him fight it should he be exposed.  He almost had to delay treatment again thanks to a case of bronchitis in February, but cleared it just in time to have the necessary three days of outpatient pre-CAR T chemo (last Weds-Fri).  If you like to Google things or do internet research, look up CAR T-cell therapy with “Yescarta,” which is what Jason is getting.  They collected Jason’s own white blood cells (the T lymphocytes) back in January and genetically modified them to recognize and attack Jason’s cancer cells. He will be getting them put back into his body this afternoon. We have been told this bag of “trained soldier cells” costs half a million dollars, but if it cures Jason’s cancer it is priceless. He will be hospitalized for only a week barring no major side effects or complications, and I am allowed to stay with him now. He will need to be monitored and not be able to drive for the next 8 weeks, but I’ll be bringing him to Houston for weekly checkups. Let’s pray for a cure, that the “third time’s the charm,” that everything that has happened did so for a reason to lead us to this.