My son is turning 4, maybe partially in thanks to Shinedown & Dave Bassett

I don't know how to make this story any shorter, sorry in advance. If you want to read about a little boy who is still alive and it may be partially due indirectly by Shinedown & Dave Bassett, please read on.

I live in Bloomington, IL with my wife and three sons. Shinedown was familiar to us on the radio but we were not big fans until my wife and I went to see them live in the Summer of 2009 when they played in town. They were not the headliner but were the second of four bands and were by far our favorite performer of the night once Brent stepped on stage belting "Devour" with an American flag draped around him. All three of their CD's were purchased by us the next morning. Our sons were 1 1/2, 5 and 7 years of age at the time and Shinedown became their favorite band as we always listened to them while driving.

Our youngest son is named Landon. Every night before bed he liked to listen to Shinedown on my iPhone while sitting on my stomach while I layed down, banging his head against the back of our couch. Landon seemed to be fighting a fever, getting weak and started to bruise in December of 2009. One night when he was 20 months old, I noticed that he was really weak and no matter how much he liked to listen to the music and bang his head that he just couldn't do it. My wife took him to our pediatrician the next morning and he was taken by ambulance to Peoria, IL as his blood counts were off and the pediatrician described him as very ill. The next morning he was diagnosed with Leukemia. My wife and Landon were taken by ambulance to St. Jude Children's research hospital in Memphis. I packed my bags, said goodbye to our older sons who were being taken care of by my parents and headed to Memphis.

Landon was diagnosed with ALL which is the most common form of Leukemia and has a cure rate of 94%. The initial stay in Memphis was to be 6 weeks and then most of our treatment would be done at the local affiliate in Peoria, IL with occasional trips to Memphis and treatment would be 2 1/2 - 3 years. Landon still liked to listen to Shinedown and would get upset if the iPhone went to shuffle playing another artist and would grunt and hand the phone back to me until I put Shinedown back on. At that time, I was listening to "Shed Some Light" nonstop. The lyric, "innocence within a maze" meant a lot, it reminded me of an innocent child with cancer. Once we discovered the meaning of "Crow and Butterfly", it meant a lot more to us.

Unfortunately, things started to go downhill. Landon's sodium levels dropped and he suffered brain stem damage and then a fungal infection set in that was so bad that they had to take him off of chemo as he needed his immune system to help fight the infection. Landon was fighting for his life. When he was diagnosed he weighed 30 lbs and he was down to 17 lbs by February of 2010. The fungal infection was eating away at the lower part of his left lung. The doctors wanted to remove that portion of his left lung but felt he was not strong enough to survive the surgery so they opted to do an open lung biopsy. It was a traumatic time and he survived the biopsy but was still very sick even though he seemed to slightly improve after the surgery as a lot of fluid was drained from the area around his heart & lungs.

A friend back home heard that we were Shinedown fans and he wanted to use a connection to get us tickets, we had no idea who the connection was. In January we thought we might be back home for the show in Peoria in February of 2010 so he said he would make arrangements for tickets. As it turns out, our son was still very sick and we did not want to leave him for the 900 mile round trip. My wife's parents offered to watch over our son and the nurses and doctors insisted that we make the trip home as we were obviously exhausted. It was hard to leave our son but it turns out that it was very important for him and us.

It was around Valentine's day of 2010. We came home to a houseful of friends and family, it was an impromptu party. We left for the concert and took our sons Keaton (7) and Mason (5). When we arrived our tickets were not waiting so we called our friend who called his connection, we still had no idea who the connection was. A few moments later the tour manager from Shinedown met us out front, got us into the show and handed us back stage passes. This was a general admission show with 7,000 people in attendance so the back stage passes were great so our sons could see the show and the speakers were not too loud since we were at the side of the stage. People were amazed at these two little boys who were singing every song word for word, so much so that several people took their photos. It was their first concert and they had a great time.

Our son Mason was not in school so we decided to take him back with us to Memphis. This would not have been considered if we hadn't made the trip home for the concert. Once we arrived back in Memphis we were recharged from time with family, friends and the concert. When Landon saw us for the first time in several days, he perked up immediately. When he saw his brother, all he wanted to do was play even though he was still very sick. The doctors told us that they needed to remove 1/2 of Landon's lung or he would not survive. The surgery was a success and Landon woke with a breathing tube, an IV in his arm, a chest tube and cables everywhere. It was a very upsetting sight. Within minutes of waking he was trying to play ball with his older brother so much so that he tore the IV out of his arm. I will never forget looking at my wife after witnessing that event and telling her with happy tears in my eyes that he was going to survive.

Landon was discharged from Memphis a few months later. He was so weak that he did not build up the strength to walk again for a year. He has had several complications since then including other lung infections, a broken leg, physical therapy, walking braces, etc. I'm happy to report that he is in remission, will be turning four on March 10, is walking with little evidence of brain stem damage and will be done with chemo in July of this year.

If we did not return home in February of 2010 for the concert, I feel as though Landon might not be alive today. We returned to him full of hope and energy and with our son Mason who seemed to help him heal. Our doctors recently told us that Landon is a miracle and they did not think he would survive. We recently learned who the connection is who provided the tickets for us. His name is Dave Basset and if you don't know who he is, look him up. Dave, Brent, Barry, Zach & Eric - Thank You, your songs and music mean a lot to us. Dave, your kind act means more to us than you will ever know.