Tampabay: Brage's little house of hope

Brage's little house of hope

Deed restrictions in Tampa Palms require removal of a treehouse, the only place where a boy with leukemia finds peace and solace.

By AMY HERDY

TAMPA -- The treehouse in his back yard is the one place where Brage Sassin forgets he is sick.

Inside its sturdy walls, nestled 8 feet above the ground in the fork of a towering oak, Brage becomes a jungle explorer -- not a 6-year-old boy battling leukemia.

To his parents, Omar and Tammy Sassin, the treehouse is a symbol of hope, a reminder of the brief time doctors thought Brage had beaten cancer and he felt well enough to build it with his father.

"Whenever he comes home (from the hospital), that treehouse is the first place he goes," Mrs. Sassin said. "He recaptures his childhood for a minute or two."

Yet the homeowners association that governs the Tampa Palms community has decided the treehouse must come down: It violates deed restrictions.

In a Nov. 9 letter to the Sassins, Tampa Palms community association manager Maura Lear said, ". . . this association recognizes the extenuating circumstances in this case, and the element of compassion has not been overlooked . . . If we had gone strictly by the book, a fine would have been imposed long ago. All this being said, however, I must make this critical point: Your treehouse structure is in direct violation of the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for Tampa Palms."

Correct the problem, Lear wrote, or she would contact the association's attorney to impose a fine.

In Tampa Palms, a structure such as a treehouse can stand no more than 8 feet high. Brage's treehouse reaches a height of about 14 feet.

Taking it down would mean breaking Brage's heart, his parents say, and that's something they refuse to do.

"His whole world is upside down," Mrs. Sassin said. Diagnosed with leukemia at age 2, Brage was thought to be in remission at 5. But he relapsed a few months later. Now he spends most of his time in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy.

"For the brief time before he relapsed, he learned what it was like to be on a soccer team, he learned what it was like to be in school. He's lost all of that," his mother said. "There's no way that child's coming home to see his treehouse is gone."

A treehouse is something Brage always wanted, his father said. The two of them embarked on the project together, Sassin said.

"The deal was, I wouldn't work on it without him," Sassin said, "so when he didn't feel well, we'd stop for a while."

They built the 8-by-8-foot structure with pressure-treated wood. They prided themselves on the fact they did not drive any nails into the oak. Brage helped with the design of three windows, a trap door (for keeping out girls, except for his sister and cousin) and a balcony, complete with railing.

An orange milk crate with rope and pulley became a dumbwaiter. Hung out front was a thick, knotted "jungle rope" with a loop at the bottom for a foothold.

The two finished the treehouse just in time for Brage's sixth birthday, March 28. An uncle installed its shingled roof as a present. The first letter from the homeowners association arrived April 5.

Sassin said he knew Tampa Palms had deed restrictions, but that he was not aware of the exact height limits. Other yards had tall playhouses, he said, so he figured, "What harm could a treehouse do?"

Plenty, according to Lear in a Dec. 29 letter that said, ". . . the neighbors whose house is directly behind yours have been negatively impacted by this structure . . . to the point that they feel their property values have been compromised."

The Sassins offered to have the treehouse landscaped to helped conceal it from the neighbor's view. The association declined.

Finally, Sassin attended a homeowners association meeting and explained what the treehouse meant to Brage.

"He begged them to let us keep it," Mrs. Sassin said. "They waited forever, then sent us a letter saying no."

The neighbors who lived directly behind the Sassins have their home up for sale. Their Realtor, Meg Keeney, said that a treehouse has not affected attempts to sell the home.

Melissa Bumberg, a neighbor with a direct view of the treehouse, said it had not lowered the value of her home. She has a contract to sell after putting her home on the market for only three weeks.

The association, she said, should let Brage keep his treehouse. "There are other battles they could fight."

Neighbor Patricia Christiansen agrees. "It's ridiculous this family has to fight for something like that with everything they're going through right now."

Nobody from the homeowners association would comment for this story.

Mrs. Sassin read the association's latest letter on New Year's Day, the same day doctors said they feared Brage's liver was being destroyed by the chemotherapy.

In a last-ditch effort, they were told they could write a letter to the association outlining the difficulties they were facing.

Mrs. Sassin complied in a letter they faxed to the association Friday.

It said, "I really don't know how to write all the painful details of what our lives consist of to persuade you that we cannot remove the one outdoor activity that he enjoys."