Christmas always brings a twinge of fear to Nashville mom Farrell Mason.
About 15 years ago, Mason — a brand-new mom — was showing off her baby in her hometown in South Carolina when a family friend found a lump on the infant boy.
It was neuroblastoma, a rare cancer found in kids.
“It was pretty devastating,” Mason said.
“The baby's born, and 10 weeks later, on Christmas Eve, you find out your child has cancer,” she said, softly. “It's a game changer for sure.”
The diagnosis started more than nine months of daily trips to the hospital in Manhattan, where the young family lived in a small apartment on the Upper West side. The baby, Charlie, survived and thrived.
But in that dark time, Mason was nearly overwhelmed with support.
The couple got hundreds of meals delivered, thousands of phone calls and emails, dozens of prayers and scripture quotes in the mail.
A neighbor washed all Mason's clothes and folded them and stacked them in front of her door every week.
“People are good. I've seen it. We want to give hope to one another,” she said.
Now, Mason, 43 — a grateful mother of a teen cancer survivor, Charlie, and five other children — has dedicated her life to paying it forward.
She's a pastoral care minister at a Green Hills church, a motivational blogger, a Vanderbilt divinity school student.
And Mason has raised more than $150,000 for cancer research through sales of her Hope Box, a portable church of sorts, which contains a collection of prayers, prayer cloth, essential oil, tea and a candle.
It all started in earnest with a prayer she received at that New York apartment in the middle of her exhausting battle with her first born's cancer. Written in a woman's handwriting on a 3x5 notecard from South Carolina.
As you go through this day, know that I am gently protecting you. I am as near to you as your breath, as close to you as your heartbeat. I can see the fragile state of your emotions. I know how close to the surface your tender feelings are. I am aware that the wick of your spirit's inner light is flickering in the winds of your dilemma.
But you are my child, and I am on your side today. I will hold you in my love until you are strong again. Do not be troubled or afraid. Do not strive in your own strength, but lean into my love. Be strengthened by my spirit. Find comfort in my mercy.
Your shield and defender,
God
Mason started to carry the prayer with her everywhere, in her purse, her pocket, the diaper bag. She eventually memorized it, and would recite it to nurses and doctors and her husband, David.
“It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment,” Mason said. “It just gave me hope.”
Mason knew then she wanted to provide hope for others that the prayer gave her. Even while her child was being treated, she started volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House where out-of-town families stayed while their kids got cancer treatments.
The family moved to Nashville – where Mason's husband's family lives – when the baby turned 1 and showed signs of recovering.
But Mason kept working to help others.
She has published a collection of prayers and two spiritually-centered fiction books, and Mason started to sell the Hope Box in October.
Mason also reads handwritten prayers to more than 700 people each week at Woodmont Christian Church, where she also serves as a minister for pastoral care.
And Mason has started a motivational blog, Bread and Honey, which has attracted more than 6,000 readers.
“I just knew when Charlie was getting better and we were seeing our way through, my life would be forever dedicated to helping people see their way through,” she said.
“A lot of times, you can't find hope yourself.”
