Family with a disabled child in Cape Coral struggling amid power outages

Crews are hard at work in Cape Coral doing what they can to turn the lights on for residents without power.

Melissa and Jay Higgins haven’t had power since Hurricane Ian laid waste to portions of the power grid in Southwest Florida. Levi, their son, is disabled and needs electricity for his bed, oxygen, and CPAP.

The Higgins family spoke with WINK News and voiced their dismay, anxieties, and concerns about their situation and with Lee County Electric Cooperative.

The Higgins family has one objective above all else, the safety of their disabled son Levi.

So, the Higgins family needs an update and a timeline for when their power will come back.

After reaching out to LCEC time and time again and after eight agonizing days of frustration, anger, and sadness they aren’t any closer to finding the answer.

WINK News spoke to a spokesperson from LCEC Thursday morning and said the plan is to have 95% of power restored in Cape Coral by Saturday, Oct. 8.

But, the story was apparently only beginning, because after the story aired on WINK News people across SWFL called and offered AC units and generators to help out the Higgins family.

After reaching back out to the Higgins family, they responded with grace, gratitude, and a happy sign of relief for Levi.

“Thank you so much. I will call her and politely decline. A gentleman came by our house after he saw the story and brought a window ac unit and installed it in Levi’s room. His room is now nice and cool. Plus, he has a disabled son a year younger than Levi. So, I think we just made a new friendship. Thanks again for getting the word out. Probably in vain as LCEC will do what they want. One would think that LCEC would reach out to us now, but haven’t. Disappointing. However, we owe you a big thank you for shining the light on this issue,” Jay said.