MCDONOUGH – On Saturday, May 31, The Brackel in McDonough hosted a special benefit in honor of Cooper Burke, who was born in February 2025 with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a condition in which the heart has only three chambers. He has undergone multiple surgeries since birth.

The benefit featured 120 raffle baskets, 10 silent auction items, 30 hooks on the pulling sled during the tracker pull and countless heartfelt cash donations throughout the day. All the proceeds went to the Burke Family.

In addition, many local business did donations through the day / weekend such as: S & D petroleum (gas station in Cincinnatus) 10 cents back to the family for the fuel they sold Saturday, Buell fuel (gas station in South Otselic) 5 cents back to the family for the fuel they sold Saturday and Sunday., D’s Dairy Treat (ice cream shop in Cincinnatus) gave the family back 25% of their proceeds from Saturday.

During the event, Alison Burke shared Cooper’s journey from start to finish of getting his first open heart surgery at three days old and then a month later being flown to New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in NYC for another surgery, which was successful. Cooper is expected to have another surgery in early July, where his family hopes to finally have him home at some point this summer.

“ Cooper still has a long ways to go and has overcome all that he has been through so far,” Burke said in a speech at the benefit. “He continues to grow and gain everyday. Without our family, without all the support we’ve had, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do it without any of you guys. We cannot thank you enough.”

To donate to Cooper’s Battle, there is a go fund me page under “Join Cooper’s Battle Against HLHS” or by visiting this link: <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/join-coopers-battle-against-hlhs?" target=”_blank”><u>https://www.gofundme.com/f/join-coopers-battle-against-hlhs?</u></a>

-Information from the Burke family and friends