CAPE CORAL, Fla. — The Southwest Florida Make-A-Wish Foundation made a stop in Cape Coral Sunday to grant a local cancer patient's wish.
In November of 2019, five-year-old Nathan Lopez was diagnosed with Ependymoma, a form of cancer that develops on the back of the brain.
"He was complaining about having a lot of headaches," says Nathan's mother Yaimeris Muzuarrieta. "He woke up crying, painfully crying, so I just ran to the emergency room with him. They did an MRI and they found a tumor in the back of the head."
Immediately, Nathan was flown to a children's hospital in St. Pete to undergo surgery to remove the tumor. The surgery was successful, and after a week, he was transported to the Ronald McDonald House in Orlando to undergo radiation therapy.
"Me and him, we went to Orlando for like a month and a half for his radiation and he finished his last treatment on March 6 2019," says Muzuarrieta.
Nathan is now in remission, and to celebrate his road to recovery, the SWFL Make- A- Wish Foundation called brought Cape Coral PD and the Cape Coral Fire Department out to surprise him. He was also gifted a shopping spree which included several toy cars and video games.
"He looks like a shy kid, but you just know deep down when he’s opening up all those gifts and he sees the fire and the police here and all this commotion that’s going on you just know that we’re changing his life," says Richard Kelly, COO of SWFL Make-A-Wish Foundation.
It was a day of celebration for everyone in Nathan's family. They were happy to see their baby boy smile once again.
"You see life with a big difference now that you go through all these things. You keep praying that kids don’t have to go through the same stuff that my son did," says Muzuarrieta.
