Tuttle Masons donate $10K to help family of baby born with CHD
By Jayson Knight
editor@tuttletimes.com
Tuttle’s Masonic Lodge donated $10,000 to Sean and Chrystal Roberts, of Harrah, to help the couple with hospital bills that have been stacking since they found out their son Braxton Roberts had congenital heart disease.
Braxton was born December 2019, and had been diagnosed with Coarctation of the Aorta before birth. Eleven days after he was born, Braxton had open heart surgery.
“This basically means his Aorta was too narrow leaving the heart and it would limit the blood flow throughout his body,” Sean explained. “His condition falls under the scope of Congenital Heart Disease. Congenital Heart Disease or CHD affects 1 in 100 people and doesn’t get much publicity in regard to children’s medical conditions. I had never heard of CHD until it affected me personally. It is my wife and I’s goal to change this and spread awareness of the disease.”
Sean organized a golf fundraiser, The Holes Fore Healing Hearts, which was held Halloween morning. The fundraiser brought in $10,000 through donations, player fees, and mulligan tickets.
While Sean and his family live elsewhere, Sean’s dad, Mike Roberts, was a member of the Tuttle Masonic Lodge for years.
“He served in most of, if not all, positions within the organization,” Sean said. “Through him, and working with Mr. Childers, I was able to set up a kind of a partnership with this first tournament. I told them the same story, and they were real supportive.”
The Tuttle Masonic Lodge helped the Roberts relieve themselves of the mounting medical bills, which was money well spent according to Johnny Childers, the Tuttle Masons’ Worshipful Master. That’s a gesture they want to extend. The Roberts plan to use the money left over to help other families who may be facing CHD.
“He said he was going to start a nonprofit,” Childers said Monday. “He wants to help the people that are in the same situation, moving forward. I think that’s a wonderful thing. I really do. We used up all the charity money that we had, and it was for good cause.”
Roberts was able to coordinate the golf tournament in just three months. After finding out he had a knack for it, Roberts projected his nonprofit could hold between two and four golf tournaments each year.
“My wife and I realized the need for an organization that could provide financial support to families facing CHD,” Roberts said. “The doctor visits, ER trips, and unplanned surgeries will always be there for families with CHD. In light of this, we are currently working on setting up our own nonprofit to help in this area. We are thinking of the name “Brave Like Braxton” but it will ultimately be determined by what we can legally acquire a trade mark for. After we get it setup we will continue putting on events to help families within the Oklahoma CHD community. We are hoping to do anywhere from two to four events each year moving forward.”
Roberts said of the Tuttle Masonic Lodge, “Their contribution brought our total to $20,000. Our success would not have been possible without them, and I cannot say enough good things about Mr. Childers and his group of guys in Tuttle.”
