Child With Leukemia Is Allowed to Keep Treehouse

A neighborhood association has backed down from its demands that the family of a 6-year-old boy suffering from leukemia tear down his treehouse.

Liz DeAmbrose, a real estate agent who is president of Palm Owners Assn., said a letter from Brage Sassin’s oncologist allows the association to grant the family an exception to its rules.

“He feels that it’s in the best interest of the child to leave the playhouse exactly the way that it is for his emotional well being,” DeAmbrose said.

Hundreds of residents had phoned and sent faxes and e-mails of support for Brage’s family after the association told the family that the treehouse was in violation of community regulations because it’s too tall.

Brage helped his father build the treehouse last spring when he briefly was in remission from the cancer that struck when he was 2. In August, he suffered a relapse.

His parents said the treehouse is the one place where Brage seems to forget he is sick and undergoing painful chemotherapy.

The association had threatened to fine Omar and Tammy Sassin, who vowed not to touch the treehouse. The association had said that at 14 feet above the ground, the treehouse was 6 feet too tall and had to be destroyed.