Sitting on the coach, reviewing his list, Mark Brentson, and his mom were figuring out their next adventure.
“Mark and I have been all over the country," said Monica Brentson, his mother.
What makes their trips so special, is time.
“I wish we wouldn't have gotten it this way, but I'm glad that Mark and I have had the opportunity to spend this time together," she said.
Though he doesn't look it, the 26-year-old has terminal brain cancer. And after 17 surgeries, and multiple rounds of chemo and radiation, he was given only 6 months to live.
“When you hear something like that, it's always devastating," his mom expressed.
But so far, is defying the odds.
“So we're a couple of weeks past the deadline," she said.
“Usually patients who have been through this much treatment don't have such a great response to chemotherapy," said Dr. David Peereboom, Mark's Oncologist at The Cleveland Clinic.
And while he's still living, he's doing what he's always done, live.
"I always had that stuff, since I was a little boy, so I would say no I always try to to live life to its fullest, with the six months to live maybe put that into overdrive."
So he made a bucket list.
“We said you can get busy living, or dying, because there ain't no time for crying, so Mark chose to get busy living," his mom explained.
His bucket list, not just the typical catalog of things to do, it's also a way to give back to those who have given him so much.
“We recognize someone every month that's been pouring into Marks life and my life, and we do something nice and special for them," Mrs. Brentson said.
But his biggest Christmas miracle came this week when he was able to record his own song and perform it downtown at the 5th street Arcade.
“Now that was a Christmas miracle, that there, that was it felt great because I always wanted to be a singer, I don't have the best voice, but with God's grace and mercy there is autotune (laughs)," Mark said.
And being alive for just one more Christmas, he told me, is the best present he could ever have.
“I can't believe it's Christmas already but I do feel blessed and honored that the Lord saw fit for me, little old me, to see Christmas another year. Because not that I just saw it was important but he thought it was important for me to be here," he said.
He has about 20 items on his bucket list and has completed more than half of it, including going to the Beyoncé concert and taking a trip to the Holy Land experience in Florida.
