Local family raffles Yeti cooler to benefit boy who underwent brain surgery

(ROCKWALL, TX — March 9, 2017) When the Hunton family of Rockwall learned that their son’s friend and classmate, 9-year-old Simran Martell, had a brain tumor and would need to undergo brain surgery, they decided to raffle off their Yeti Tundra 65 Cooler to raise money for the Martells.

Simran lost his older sister Luna to cancer last year, and less than 12 months later a tumor was found in his brain. The Huntons put together the raffle after learning about Simran’s diagnosis and that he would need to undergo surgery in Houston to determine if the tumor was benign or malignant. The biopsy was last week and resulted in very good news for Simran. According to a post on Facebook by Simran’s mom, Heidi Martell, the pathology report showed on a scale of 1-4 (1 being the most benign) the tumor was a 1.

The Huntons invited Simran and family to their home last night to participate in a Facebook Live broadcast, where Simran drew the winning ticket for the raffle. The Huntons also revealed that they raised a total of $3,500 from the raffle to benefit the Martell family.

“The Rockwall community have been phenomenal,” Heidi said. “We were overwhelmed with their support when Luna was sick, and the fact that so many people like the Huntons reached out to rally around Simran and help the family. I think our greatest feeling was eternal gratitude. I think we wouldn’t have had our head above water without other people holding us up.”

The cooler has been raffled once before to benefit another child facing cancer – 11-year-old Alex Kiker, a Nebbie Elementary student who was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Kristine Hunton said they bought a ticket for that raffle in support of Alex and ended up winning the Yeti cooler.

Seeing the amount of support from the community generated by the raffle for Alex, the Huntons decided to continue the trend of giving back to someone in need and hold their own raffle for Simran.

“Pretty much as soon as we got that cooler, it only made sense for us to do the same thing and raffle it off for Simran,” Kristine said.

The raffle was open to anyone but Kristine said due to the size of the cooler, they wouldn’t be able to ship it to anyone outside the DFW or Houston areas. She said they would give anyone who won the cooler outside those areas the option to gift the cooler to someone else or a charity of their choice.

Kristine said she hopes the raffle brought many blessings to Simran and the Martell family. “I can’t imagine what they’ve been through. If this raffle blesses them, brings joy and relief to their family, that would be amazing for us to be able to do something to show they’re loved and supported, and that they’re not alone.”

Local resident Marisa Gray has also organized a “I Wear Gray for Simran” t-shirt fundraiser to help pay for the Martell family’s medical expenses. T-shirts can be purchased at https://www.booster.com/sim and folks can also donate at https://www.youcaring.com/simranmartell-753961.

A fundraiser benefiting Simran is also underway at Mooyah in Rockwall today. The community is invited to come out and visit with Simran and his family, and folks are encouraged to wear their “I Wear Gray for Simran” t-shirts. The event last until 10 p.m. tonight and a portion of all the proceeds will go to the Martell family.

Link to the Facebook Live video of the Yeti cooler raffle – https://www.facebook.com/kristine.hunton/videos/10158712879880179/

Story and photo by Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News.

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