'Fight, fight, fight:' Mason Highwater overcomes heart failure, strokes

Mason Hightower was your all-American kid.

"He did great in school, he did great in sports, and actually went to college, and played college baseball," said his mom, Jeanine Hightower.

But after graduating from college and working, Mason started having problems.

"He would call me and say, I don’t feel good," said Jeanine.

Jeanine suggested he go to one of the primary care clinics and get checked out. The diagnosis was COVID, even though his test came back negative, and his symptoms got worse.

"He told his roommates, he said, 'I think I am going to die,' and they said, 'What?' He said, 'I’m sick, and I am going to die,'" said Jeanine.

After getting Mason home and to a specialist, things were much more serious.

"They did another test and another test and finally they scanned his heart, and he came in and he said it’s very likely that Mason has some infection around his heart," said Jeanine.

Mason needed emergency surgery to replace his heart valves.

"After eight hours of surgery, they came and told us that his heart was damaged, probably beyond repair, and he probably was not going to live," said Jeanine.

At the doctor’s advice, his parents, Tim and Jeanine, went home not expecting their son to live through the night.

"It was at that point that I said, 'God take control,'" said Tim Hightower.

The family waited for the phone call that never came. Mason was by no means out of the woods, but he would eventually get healthy enough to for an artificial heart and a heart transplant. But Mason would have one more unexpected major hurdle.

"He couldn’t move his right side, so then the neurologist called us that night and told us that he had at least three strokes during the surgery," said Jeanine.

The stokes would affect the right side of his body, but Mason is in the final stages of overcoming that.

"Fight, fight, fight," said Mason.

The Hightowers credit one thing to Mason for being alive.

"We had to rely, I mean we laid everything at God’s feet and said help us," said Jeanine.

"God had a plan," said Mason.

Mason wants to send one message to anyone with challenges.

"(It's) still hard... but, so," said Mason.