When Hurricane Charley tore through Southwest Florida five years ago this week it wreaked havoc upon much of Cape Coral.
Amid the damaged roofs, stripped-bare trees and disrupted lives Christopher Heinz’s new swing set was ripped apart by the storm. Christopher, who was diagnosed with leukemia at just over 2 years old, was 8 at the time. The swing set had been a gift from a local organization, called the Wishing Well Foundation, that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses. Although part of Cape Coral still bears the scars from Charley, within weeks Christopher’s swing set had been replaced. What would be the point, Wishing Well Executive Director and co-founder Vicki Torbush said, of granting a child’s wish if something like a storm could just take it away. “It was the right thing to do,” she said. “It wasn’t their fault it was destroyed.” Christopher still lives in Cape Coral with his mother, Carol, father Roy and his three brothers. At 13, he’s grown out of the swing set. Now more into flag football and karate, he lives his life like any other teenager, almost,
“We have to extra careful with some things,” Carol said. “I was worried when he wanted to take karate, because he can’t get hit in the stomach, but his teacher designed a course that he could follow and not get hit there, and now he’s a purple belt.”