A Texas father and son are both back home and getting to spend Christmas together after they were hospitalized recently.
Spencer Tutt, 33, experienced a seizure and a heart event late last month after running a 10K trail run, an event he’d spent the last six to seven months preparing for.
“This is the first time I ever had any complications,” Tutt, a police officer and longtime runner, told ABC News. “I felt more winded than I think I have in the previous years running, but I had no idea what was going on.”
Texas Children’s Hospital – PHOTO: Spencer Tutt and his son Mason are spending Christmas at home together after both were recently in the hospital.
Tutt later learned that doctors diagnosed him with a rare birth defect called anomalous origin of the right coronary artery from the pulmonary artery or ARCAPA, which experts say often requires surgical treatment. Tutt underwent open-heart surgery and spent time in an intensive care unit at a Tyler hospital.
“We do know that this was all caused by a birth defect where I had extra muscle over my right coronary artery,” Tutt explained. “I spent a couple of days in the hospital after getting life-lighted from Nacogdoches to Tyler … and then that Friday the 21st, they did an unroofing of my coronary artery where they removed that excess muscle.”
Texas Children’s Hospital – PHOTO: Mason with his family — mom Hayley, dad Spencer, and older sister Chloe — in the hospital.
The unexpected incident came five months after Tutt’s 9-year-old son Mason was diagnosed in June with leukemia, a type of cancer of the white blood cells.
According to Dr. Chelsea Vrana, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and one of Mason’s doctors, Mason had a fever and significant right hip pain, before doctors learned he had cancer cells in his blood.
“[Mason] was diagnosed with a type of leukemia called B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” Vrana told ABC News via email. “While childhood cancer is rare, acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common type of cancer we see in kids and adolescents, occurring in about three to four children out of every 100,000 children in the U.S.”
In order for Mason to receive treatment, the Tutts had been traveling to and from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. On the day Tutt had his medical emergency, they just so happened to have their bags packed for one of Mason’s hospital stays.
“Everyone was able to be that much stronger in the hospitals and ready for what was to come with me because of everything we’ve been through in the last six months [with Mason],” Tutt said. “As tough as it was … they were all very strong.”
Texas Children’s Hospital – PHOTO: Mason and Spencer Tutt install the star on the Christmas tree in their home in Texas.
For Mason, the last several months have been filled with highs and lows as he received six high-dose chemotherapy treatments. The fourth-grader said facing needles and “getting poked” for a lumbar puncture and other procedures has been one of the hardest things.
But among the tough times, there have been bright days, too, like when he met with therapy dogs at Texas Children’s and when Christmas arrived early and he got to unwrap presents before Dec. 25.
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Mason will need at least two more years of treatment, according to his family and his doctors.
Mason’s leukemia has responded extremely well to the chemotherapy,” Vrana wrote. “While he still has quite a bit more of his treatment to go, I expect Mason to continue to impress all who meet him. Leukemia is going to be just a small part of Mason’s story.”
Meanwhile, his dad is doing cardiac rehab and said he has been “recovering quickly.”
“I’m feeling stronger every day. I’m just trying to work my way back to where I was before the surgery or even better,” Tutt said, adding that doctors say they don’t expect him to have any additional complications. “Hopefully next year I can do [a 25K], but we’ll see.”
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Tutt said he hopes by sharing his and Mason’s experiences, their family story can offer encouragement and strength for others in need and help with early detection of leukemia.
“If someone could see our story out there and then be inspired by it to either be able to push through or to maybe even find their own faith, I think that would be worth it,” said Tutt.
The Tutt family said they’re feeling “blessed” to simply celebrate Christmas at home with both Spencer and Mason Tutt beside them.
Texas Children’s Hospital – PHOTO: Mason and his older sister Chloe share a hug.
“It’s really great to have them both on a really good track to healing and I really like that we get to go home for Christmas for the first time in eight years and I’m just really excited for it,” Mason’s sister Chloe, 12, said.
It’s also the first time in eight years where Tutt isn’t working a holiday shift as an officer.
“I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Tutt said.
Mom Hayley Tutt added, “Every day is a gift.”
