masonsfunctionstory

His inflammation kept rising. The answer was in his house.

A rising inflammation marker led Mason on a months-long search for answers. The cause turned out to be hiding inside his home's HVAC system.

At a glance

The guy who pays attention

Mason was 40 when he started thinking more seriously about his heart.

Not because something was wrong. Because both his grandfather and uncle died from heart attacks at 40.

Mason decided he wasn't going to leave things to chance. He completed extensive cardiovascular testing and started paying much closer attention to his health.

I think I monitor more closely than the general public.

Monitoring his health became part of an already structured routine. Cold plunge. Strength training. Even a full career in food, nutrition, and sustainability.

Living healthy was second nature.

Something wasn't adding up

For the most part, Mason felt good.

But over time, he noticed a few subtle changes. His energy was low. His hangovers seemed worse than before. Just enough to make him curious.

I wonder what's going on with my liver?

Mason had been tracking a small set of biomarkers for years. When friends in the longevity space started talking about Function, he was intrigued by the ability to track a much broader set of biomarkers.

So he signed up.

The first results showed that a few liver-related markers were elevated. After he stopped taking a certain supplement, the numbers started moving in the right direction.

But another marker wasn't following the same pattern.

His High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), which can reveal even small amounts of inflammation in the body, remained elevated. Then it climbed even higher.

Mason’s hs-CRP remained elevated on Function, climbing from 1.4 to 2.6 mg/L.

At first, Mason assumed there had to be a straightforward explanation. Maybe stress. His training. Maybe his diet.

He started making adjustments. But when he retested, nothing changed.

His wife had been tracking her own inflammation markers independently. Then, in what seemed like a strange coincidence, she noticed her hs-CRP had increased around the same time.

We absolutely could not figure out why.

Mason and his wife both saw inflammation markers rise around the same time.

Long-term inflammation tracking showed a sharp rise—then the beginning of a decline after the HVAC repair.

Looking everywhere except the right place

For months, Mason and his wife tried to solve the mystery. But the deeper they looked, the less sense it made.

Eventually, a friend mentioned Function's integration with the AI tool Claude.

Mason connected his results and started asking questions. One by one, possible explanations seemed less likely.

Then the conversation shifted in a completely different direction.

When Mason mentioned his wife’s results rose at the same time, Claude pointed toward environmental exposure.

The moment Mason mentioned that his wife's hs-CRP had increased around the same time, Claude turned the focus to potential environmental exposure.

That was the first explanation that fit both stories.

What if the source wasn't inside Mason's body at all?

Suddenly, a detail Mason had almost forgotten came rushing back.

The clue he almost ignored

Months earlier, Mason's HVAC system had been replaced. More recently, he'd noticed a leak.

He looked around inside the unit and moved on. At the time, it felt like a minor maintenance issue.

Claude was like, no, that's a big deal.

Given Mason’s context and data, Claude pointed to the leak as a plausible explanation and suggested mold exposure could be related to the inflammation marker in both Mason and his wife.

Around the same time, Mason had shattered his shoulder and was laid up at home for a month. He started noticing more congestion and gum inflammation, which he'd never experienced before.

Now it was clear. He'd been spending more time in the house, breathing more of the indoor air.

I never would have made that connection.

A professional inspection confirmed active mold growth in the HVAC system.

Inspection found active mold growth inside the HVAC system.

They scheduled the repair right away.

The HVAC leak was repaired after mold was confirmed.

More than a lab result

Since then, Mason has re-tested his hs-CRP and noticed a downward trend.

The same thing happened for his wife.

When a potential source of inflammation is addressed, hs-CRP can change within days to weeks.

What Function and Claude gave him wasn't a diagnosis. It was enough information to recognize a signal that had been hiding in plain sight.

I can't imagine the healthcare system being able to do that. Function is the first time in my life where I was able to not just access my health information, but use it and understand it. It just feels amazing to have that agency.