House calls alert leukemia patient

Emily Richmond, Las Vegas Sun

Friday, Dec. 8, 2006 | 7:09 a.m.

It was 1:15 in the morning when firefighters pulled up to Larry Mason's house and rang the doorbell, jarring him awake. "Is there anybody here who has leukemia?" they asked Mason, a 12-year veteran of the Clark County School Board.

Nope, Mason said. You must have the wrong house.

The firefighters persisted but weren't able to give the name of the person they were looking for.

"You've got the wrong house," Mason told them, and headed back to bed.

A half-hour later, the doorbell rang again. This time it was the police.

Please, you've got the wrong house, they were told.

A few minutes later, the telephone rang. It was Dr. Bashab Banerji, whom Mason had seen for the first time the day before, for fatigue and a sore throat. Banerji, suspecting mononucleosis, had ordered blood tests.

"Mr. Mason, it's imperative that you get to the hospital," Banerji told him. "You have acute leukemia."

This isn't how it's supposed to happen, with knocks at the door and phone calls at 1 and 2 in the morning to deliver news about lab tests and leukemia.

But that's how urgent it was.

The night turned upside down at 1 a.m., when Banerji was paged at home. Mason's white blood cell count was about 90,000 - far above the normal range of 5,000, a graveyard-shift technician reported. The news couldn't wait.

Earlier in his medical career, Banerji had seen a leukemia patient deteriorate rapidly over just a few hours, and he knew Mason needed immediate treatment.

He called Mason's cell phone three times, but only got his voice mail. So he called 911 to ask that the fire department head to Mason's house. Give Mason my phone number, the doctor said, and have him call me immediately.

But the firefighters and the cops were both unwittingly turned away at Mason's door.

Time was critical, so Banerji asked police for Mason's phone number. They refused because it wasn't a criminal matter, the doctor said.

Running out of options, Banerji drove to Southern Hills Hospital, where he has a private practice, looked up Mason's home number in his patient records and called him. Get to the emergency room now, Banerji said.

As soon as Mason got there, he was given blood transfusions.

"It was fortunate for me that (Banerji) kept on. He was very persistent," Mason said from his room in Sunrise Hospital. He'll begin chemotherapy treatment today.

News of Mason's cancer spread quickly in the community, and Mason hasn't wanted for visitors and supportive phone calls. "The energy all around me is incredible. It's lifted me up, and I can take on anything," Mason said. "I am so blessed. This experience is really putting that into perspective."

Re-elected to a fourth term on the School Board without opposition, Mason said he intends to participate in upcoming meetings, even if it's by telephone from his hospital room.

He compared his upcoming medical fight to his first foray into School Board politics, when he wasn't chosen to fill a vacant seat. He went on to defeat the appointee in the next election.

"When I didn't get the appointment I said, 'I'll be back. I'll win this,' " Mason said. "And I'll do it again this time."