Millionaire Father Of Three Receives A Diagnosis That Raises Questions About His Children

There’s nothing worse than receiving a devastating medical diagnosis, just ask father of three Richard Mason. When his doctor diagnosed Mason with cystic fibrosis, his entire world came crashing down in a matter of moments. At 55-years-old, the father and businessman wanted nothing more than to spend more time with his sons. Now, it seemed, that might not happen.

Just when things seemed as bad as they could get, Mason’s doctor began asking him questions that made him suspect his ex-wife had been lying to him for over twenty years! Here’s how Richard Mason started to unravel a mystery he had no idea he was taking part in…

Richard Mason, Successful Businessman

By all outward appearances, father of three Richard Mason should be the subject of most people’s envy. At 55-years-old, he had already become one of the most successful businessmen in the United Kingdom, thanks to founding the popular website, MoneySupermarket.com. A significant website in Britain, the site compares prices of the same product at multiple grocery stores.

Long before he founded MoneySupermarket, however, Mason met his first wife, Kate, while both working at a bank. Before long, they fell in love, tied the knot, and started a family. Mason worked hard every day to provide Kate and their three sons with everything they needed. Sadly, he had no idea that the woman of his dream held dark secrets…

Going Their Separate Ways

During their marriage, Mason and Kate had three boys together: Will, the eldest, and then, two years later, twins Ed and Joel. When Will turned 21-years-old, and the twins were 19, Mason and Kate made a decision that would alter their lives forever. You see, the couple agreed that their marriage was no longer working, and they went their separate ways.

While no longer in love, Mason and Kate remained close after their separation in 2008, agreeing it was best for everyone involved. At least, that’s what Kate said initially. However, Richard Mason had no idea she would soon go back on her word to remain civil during the separation proceedings!

Trying to Remain Civil

Initially, Kate agreed to remain friendly with Mason, if he did the same. However, as soon as the proceedings began, Kate kept pushing Mason’s lawyers for more and more money. At first, the couple had agreed that Kate would receive a $5 million lump sum, and then they would go their separate ways. After all, $5 million would more than cover their sons’ education and a nice lifestyle for Kate.

Sadly, Kate wanted more and more. She “hounded me for years… and tried to make me pay more,” Mason recalled. As it would turn out, there was a reason for Kate’s behavior. She had been hiding something from Mason for decades. Sadly things would only go from bad to worse for the father of three…

Meeting A New Love

Richard Mason’s separation was one of the hardest moments of his entire life. To make things worse, at the same time, Mason’s sister passed from complications from cystic fibrosis. Mason felt lost. Thankfully, in 2013, an angel came into his life: Emma Jones. A fellow entrepreneur who set up an entire spa firm, Jones truly understood and loved Mason. The two dated for a year before the father of three knew he was ready to take the plunge once again.

On Christmas Eve 2014, Mason asked Jones to marry him. “I was in so much shock when he went down on one knee. It all went blank and I said yes,” Jones recalled. It seemed like Mason had everything back on track. That is, until his ex Kate came rocketing back into his life…

Heading To The Doctor

While Kate and Mason had separated back in 2008, it was not until 2016 that Mason finally uncovered his ex-wife’s web of lies. Even stranger, it would happen in the oddest of places: a hospital in Liverpool, England.

Of course, after his sister had died of a genetic disease, Mason started to take his health more seriously. At the age of 55-years-old, the father of three, accompanied by his new wife Emma, went for a routine checkup at his doctors. In the past, these had been relatively quick visits, as Mason takes good care of himself. However, this time around, the doctor called him and Emma into his office after the checkup. What could he possibly want?

A Devastating Diagnosis

In his office, the doctor softly closed the door and sat down across from Richard Mason and his wife Emma, with a sad look on his face. In a somber tone, the doctor delivered the most devastating news Mason had ever heard: like his sister, he had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

At first, Mason could barely understand the words coming from his doctor’s mouth. How could he have cystic fibrosis – and how could they have only discovered it now. In fact, Mason told his doctor that there must have been some mistake. According to the father of three, he had undergone genetic testing in the 1980s that cleared him from the risk of developing cystic fibrosis! Sadly, as the doctor told him, those tests were infamously unreliable.

There’s No Cure

From there, the news only had more bad news to deliver to Mason and Emma. For those not in the know, cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease that affects about 70,000 people globally and for which there’s no known cure. Horribly, it cuts down one’s average life expectancy to around 46 years due to related lung problems. As a 55-year-old-man, Mason felt terrified by what his doctor told him!

Unbelievably, the doctor had more to say! As he explained to Mason, 98% of men with CF are infertile, meaning they can’t naturally conceive a single child, let alone three. The father of three could not believe what he was hearing…

The Bitter Truth

When the doctor told Mason that 98% of men with CF are infertile, a light bulb went off in his head. Since he had fathered three children, completely naturally, he simply could not have cystic fibrosis. Mason clung to the idea desperately, hoping for a false-positive diagnosis.

Well,” Mason recalled telling his doctor, “you must have the diagnosis wrong because I’ve already got three boys…In my mind, it proved his diagnosis was wrong, and therefore I hadn’t got the disease (that) killed my sister.” Confident that his doctor had messed something up, Mason went to get a second opinion and more tests. It was the only hope he had left.

More Tests

Over the next few weeks, Mason and Emma went to doctor after doctor, hoping for someone to bring them good news. However, more tests at more hospitals only nailed home the truth: Mason did, in fact, have cystic fibrosis. He couldn’t even cry – he just felt numb. “My life is ruined,” he thought. Still, Mason could not ignore the questions inside him. Like, how could he father three sons if he suffered from CF? The only way to find out was to ask his ex-wife, Kate.

After yet another hospital and positive test, Mason returned home and began composing an email to his ex-wife Kate with trembling hands.

Demanding an Answer

At that point, Mason and Kate’s “cold and joyless” marriage had been over for almost a decade, so he could not go home and ask her questions. Still, after Kate had received her lump sum of over $5 million, on top of continued child support, things had remained civil. Now though, it seemed that Kate had been lying to him for decades. Mason needed the truth.

“I went to the Liverpool Chest Hospital today… to finally receive my diagnosis that I have cystic fibrosis,” Mason wrote in a furious email. “In their experience, they have never had a male with CF who has fathered a child let alone three. It is 98% certain that I am not the father of any children.” Unfortunately, no reply came…

Second Email

As if receiving a cystic fibrosis diagnosis was not bad enough, Mason now wondered if the sons he loved so much were actually his. After everything, he simply wanted the truth. Certainly, Kate owed him at least that much. So, when she did not reply to his first message, Mason sent a second email.

“I was hoping that you could relieve me of further indignity by letting me know now if I am the father,” Mason desperately typed in his second email. “I am happy to go along with your advice as to how best tell the boys. But, if you force me to go through these extra tests then I shall be telling them as I wish.” Finally, this time, Kate responded.

Kate’s Reply

The same day, Kate replied to Mason’s second email. As you might suspect, she denied that she had ever cheated on him during their marriage. That meant that there was no chance that the boys were biologically anyone but Mason’s.

“Of course the boys are yours, no matter what the science might suggest,” Kate wrote in her short, cold email. Still, something did not seem right. That’s when Emma asked Mason if he remembered anything strange from his marriage with Kate. That’s when all the pieces started to fall into place. It seemed that Mason should have paid a little more attention to what was happening in his marriage…

The Clues Were There

Before his cystic fibrosis diagnosis, Richard Mason would never have considered that his ex-wife Kate could have cheated on him. However, as he started to look back on their marriage, he realized that the clues were there the entire time.

Of course, as a millionaire businessman, Mason needed to work long nights. So, he thought nothing of the many times that Kate herself would stay late at her own work. Like the time she had remained in London for an extra night during a “work trip,” claiming her flight had been canceled. The more Mason thought about it, the more questions emerged.

“They Don’t Look Like Your Sons”

Despite the pain it brought him, Mason needed to have a good long think about his time with Kate and the questions he had. All of a sudden, a memory from his sons’ childhood made tears come to his eyes. Mason remembered how other parents would comment on how much his sons looked like Kate, but not like Mason. At the time, it had just seemed like a funny coincidence. Now that he had discovered that he was infertile, the comments broke Mason’s heart.

Meanwhile, the memories also brought back others. Mason suddenly remembered his wife taking up a strange interest while pregnant with their first son…

A Sudden Interest

Strangely, when she became pregnant with Will, their first child, Kate suddenly took an interest in Judaism and insisted all their children have “Jewish” middle names. What’s more, Kate also refused to have the boys christened. At the time, Mason had just found it strange. Now, he thought she had outside influence.

Mason also recalled going to an Indian restaurant for the first time, though the owner said Kate had been there multiple times before. However, she denied it. As Richard Mason sat in his home, he realized he didn’t need a DNA test: he wasn’t the boys’ biological father. Now, he needed to tell them the truth.

Breaking the News to His Son

Now armed with the truth, Mason decided to take things slow. He began by breaking the news to his eldest son, Willem, then 21 and a college student. He started by telling Will about his recent cystic fibrosis diagnosis. Surprisingly, Mason’s eldest son took it in stride. However, he did not think Will would take the next piece of news as well…

Mason explained to Will that the doctors had told him it was incredibly improbable for men with CF to father children, left alone twins. Already thinking two steps ahead, Will read between the lines. “You’re saying you’re probably not my father?” he asked. With tears in his eyes, Mason explained that no, he was likely not Will’s father.

Admitting the Ugly Truth

That night, after he returned home from talking to Will, Mason’s phone rang. It was from Kate. According to the mother of three, Willem had angrily confronted her. Now, after all these years and due to her son’s anger, Kate felt ready to tell Mason the truth. In a heartbroken daze, Mason listened as his ex-wife admitted to having an on-again, off-again affair during their 20-year marriage.

Apparently, Kate met the man, who she refused to name, at a London hotel on several occasions during overnight work-related trips. Even though she admitted to having been unfaithful, Kate maintained that the unnamed man couldn’t be the children’s father, claiming they had used protection. There was only one way to tell for sure: a DNA test. Although Mason did not want it to come to this, it finally had.

Going to Court

Of course, with the truth finally out in the open, Mason felt furious. Kate lived in a seven-bedroom, $1.3 million home, while her driveway sported no less than four cars. Meanwhile, Mason paid monthly child support with the boy’s biological father did absolutely nothing to help.

At his wit’s end, Mason hired a lawyer, talked to his sons, and started the process on DNA tests. The news was horrible: not only was Mason infertile, but DNA tests showed he wasn’t the twins’ father. Meanwhile, Willem refused to undertake the test. Now, Mason needed to figure out what to do next and how to move on…

A First For the Lawyer

Roger Terrel, Mason’s attorney, is a seasoned vet when it comes to paternity fraud. However, even with all his years of experience, he had never come across such a case. In essence, Mason wanted to have the separation settlement renegotiated in light of his diagnosis and the DNA test. Meanwhile, he was also seeking damages from Kate for the paternity fraud she had allegedly perpetrated for over 20 years.

Eventually, the two managed to settle out of court for a reported $325,000 from the separation lump sum Mason had initially given. However, although Mason scored a legal win, albeit a minor one, nothing comes without a price.

The High Price

At first, Willem refused to take the DNA test for the best of reasons, saying, “As far as I’m concerned, he’s my dad and that’s that.” However, when he learned of the lawsuit, he told Mason in no uncertain terms how he felt. “If you sue mum,” Willem reportedly told Mason, “I will never speak to you again.”

True to his promise, he hasn’t. Joel, one of the twins, has also decided to cut ties with Mason. Meanwhile, Ed, the second twin, is the only one of his children to keep in touch with his non-biological father. As for Mason, he found himself in a peculiar situation. After 21 years, he’d found out he wasn’t the biological father of any of the three children he thought were his. His entire world had turned upside down…

Shattering the Foundations

On top of learning that the past 21 years of his life had been a complete lie, two of Mason’s children refuse to have anything to do with him because he simply wanted to see justice. Where he expected weddings, graduations, grandchildren, he received only stony silence. Of course, these successive blows shattered Mason’s perception of who he truly was.

After all, being a father was a defining part of Mason’s self-image, and that, along with his children, had been taken from him. Sadly, despite all his money, he had gone from having three amazing young boys to having nothing at all.

A Domino Effect

Of course, Mason wasn’t the only one affected by the revelation and loss of his sons. You see, his entire family was as well, as they suddenly found out their nephews – and grandchildren – weren’t truly theirs. Mason’s mother, Brenda, took it the hardest of them all.

85-year-old Brenda suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and when Mason visits her once or twice a week, she always asks him how the boys are doing. Even though he tried to avoid the topic, he eventually has to tell her that they’re no longer in touch. Of course, he also had to reveal the reason why – again, and again, and again…

Mason’s Future

Since his initial CF diagnosis about four years ago, Mason’s lung capacity has dramatically dropped, from 84 to 72 percent. By his reckoning, he might have about a decade before he’ll need an oxygen tank to breathe – precisely what happened to his older sister before she succumbed to the disease and passed away.

The only thing keeping the millionaire going is his loving wife, Emma. However, the couple has had to make peace with the fact that they’ll never have children together – other than Mason’s CF, Emma suffers from breast cancer, and chemotherapy has made her infertile too. Hopefully, Mason and his children will eventually reunite.

The Real Father

To his date, Richard Mason still doesn’t know for sure the boy’s biological father’s true identity. However, he does have his suspicions. At first, he pleaded with his ex-wife to spare him the torture of not knowing who he was and reveal his identity. However, Kate has no intentions of letting Mason know the truth about his son’s origins.

When she refused, Mason used the fact that his story went so viral to send an open appeal to the unknown father. “I would like him to come forward,” he pleaded, if only for the boys’ sake, as they’ll want to know how their real father is.

Hoping to Reconnect with His Sons

Even if the biological father ever decided to come forward, Mason said that he hopes Willem, Joel, and Ed will always think of him as their father.

For now, a persistent cough is the only external clue that he’s unwell. In the future, he hopes that will change. Sadly, Mason doesn’t have long, and with no possibility of fathering children of his own, he wants nothing more than makeup with his children. What’s more, he just wants to be their dad again. “If I could wave a magic wand,” he concluded, “I would want to be in all their lives.”

Reconciling the Contradiction

Appearing on the morning show Good Morning Britain, Mason tried to explain how he hoped to reconnect with his estranged sons while simultaneously launching legal procedures against the young boys’ mother. In his mind, there was no contradiction at all.

You see, Mason always taught them to be “straightforward and honest,” he said. In his position, that meant going to court, so he did. Since they were smart and “well brought-up,” he trusted them to know he was doing the right thing here, even if that meant standing up against their own mother. However, Mason wasn’t done, and used the platform of Good Morning Britain to send his sons a direct plea.