Jailyn Mason, 12, from Texas, US, fought her way through major health battles, having a total of five transplants – she initially fell ill with a high temperature which led to a devastating diagnosis
An “amazing little girl” who underwent five gruelling transplants by the age of 12 received a devastating diagnosis after she fell ill with a fever. Jailyn Mason, 12, from Houston, Texas, US, was born with gastroschisis – a birth defect where a baby’s abdominal wall doesn’t close completely. She went under the knife for a kidney transplant in 2022.
Unfortunately, this transplant ended up being one of many. Two years after her first ever procedure, she had a quadruple transplant – liver, intestine, spleen, and kidney. Her mother Dyshica Bradley, 41, said Jailyn then experienced a high temperature and was raced back to hospital. She underwent a PET scan and was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma – a type of blood cancer.
Currently, Jailyn is undergoing chemotherapy and is about to enter her fifth round. Dyshica said: “I wanted to let her know that the journey is not hers alone. Jailyn is my adoptive daughter, and I wanted to be as supportive as I possibly could. To let her know that, as a mother, I will always be there for her.”
After receiving a kidney transplant in December 2022 for gastroschisis, Jailyn wasn’t getting any better. Doctors told Dyshica the only way Jailyn would survive is if she had a quadruple transplant.
Dyshica said: “I was in shock, we were banking on this one transplant to work. When they told us she needed a new liver, intestine, and spleen, it was a shock for me. But the doctors told me that the only way that Jailyn would survive is if she got this quadruple transplant.”
On November 7, 2024, Jailyn underwent a quadruple transplant at Nebraska Medical Hospital. The operation was eight hours long, and Dyshica said the operation was successful. But in February 2025, Jailyn started to come down with a fever and was taken back to the hospital.
Dyshica said: “Jailyn started to get better after her transplant, but in February she came down with a fever. She was admitted back to the hospital, and that is when they found her cancer. I cried for days when the doctors told me, I was hoping that this would be a new bill of health for her. It definitely wasn’t on my mind, especially after a quadruple transplant.”
On February 12, 2025, Doctors diagnosed her with B-cell lymphoma, and a PET scan the following day showed that Jailyn was “riddled” with cancer. She immediately started chemotherapy, but on February 23 Jailyn was placed on life support as her new kidney started to fail.
After two weeks, Jailyn’s condition improved and she was taken off life support on March 6 this year. Dyshica said: “I felt so much relief seeing her come off life support. She came so far, so she had been fighting her whole life. I was elated when she came off it felt like we were going in the right direction.”
Jailyn has undergone several rounds of chemotherapy, and a second PET scan showed that 95 per cent of the cancer had gone. In a show of support, Dyshica shaved her hair to show Jailyn is not alone and described her daughter as a “little fighter”.
Dyshica said: “She is resilient. She is sassy, she is a girl’s girl. We call her an old lady, she has a very old spirit. She is an amazing little girl, she tries to encourage us and cheer us up when she is the person battling cancer.”