Masons grateful for Samaritan sharing

Keith and Jennifer Mason didn’t have to wait long before they needed to put their Samaritan Ministries membership to use.

When they started Personhood USA, they couldn’t afford health insurance. But Dan Becker, a member of the organization’s board, a promoter of personhood in Georgia, and a Samaritan member, encouraged them to check into the ministry.

“He was recommending it so much that we had to look into it,” Jennifer says.

They signed up and, one month later, Jennifer was pregnant with the Masons’ fourth child.

It was more than just good timing for the sharing of maternity expenses. Jennifer had hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes severe nausea and vomiting throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

“I could barely get out of bed sometimes,” she says.

Unable to keep more than 400 calories down most days, she lost 12 pounds in nine days at one point. She depended instead on IVs for nutrition and hydration, an expensive form of treatment.

“One of my doctors told me I would have died without them,” Jennifer says.

Her daughter, Ella, was born prematurely in July 2012 and “we almost lost her twice when she was born,” Jennifer says.

Everyone has recovered, though.

“Ellie is a growing, healthy infant now and we are very thankful,” Keith says.

“It was a blessing from God,” Jennifer says. “We know He was watching out for us, because so many things that could have gone wrong didn’t. We made it through.”

The Masons have been “recommending Samaritan as often as possible,” Jennifer says, especially to the employees at Personhood USA.

“We were so thankful to have Samaritan Ministries to share the burden of the costly IV treatments and constant medical care,” Keith says.