LI leukemia kid & kin still thankful
With their Long Island home destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and their income lost, it could be said that the Heckman family had very little to be thankful for yesterday.
But then there is the persistent good health, against all odds, of the middle child of the Heckman brood, 6yearold leukemia patient Steven.
That, along with the news that Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain will help raise funds for the boy’s medical care, means “there’s always hope,” said mom Danielle, 29.
“It was stupid,” Steven said about Sandy, just the latest of the storms he has had to weather.
“It destroyed the house,” he said of the family’s twobedroom Cape Cod cottage in Amityville.
“I can’t be in because it’s bad air. I had a cough, a croupy cough. I want to live in the house. The one thing I miss the most is my bunk bed. We couldn’t have Thanksgiving.”
Steven takes a daily chemotherapy pill, submits to weekly spinalfluid testing, and has endured numerous emergencyroom visits.
These days, the three Heckman kids — also including Alexandra, 9, and Juliana, 3 — plusMom and Dad squeeze into the onebedroom apartment of friends in Farmingdale.
Dad Steven Sr. gave up his poolconstruction company to help care for his son.
“I do believe God is watching over us,” said Danielle as she prepared to cook turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie in their temporary home.