Charter Captain finds silver lining after Hurricane Ian

AccuWeather

Charter boat Captain Lewis MacDonald says difficult days after Hurricane Ian led to an alarming health diagnosis that doctors were able to treat in time.

Transcript

00:00 Amid the chaos and devastation after Hurricane Ian, we met Lewis McDonald.

00:06 He had just found his beloved boat, swept away by storm surge at Fort Myers Beach.

00:11 In '95, my father and I built the Mack Attack and God spared us because when it broke free,

00:21 went all the way over there to mangroves and it settled down.

00:25 It's special because my father and I built the boat and then he died of cancer.

00:28 So it's special.

00:32 One year later, Lewis says that storm may have saved his life.

00:36 A blessing in disguise.

00:37 I would have never found the cancer.

00:40 After several stressful days in the heat with little to drink and no access to bathrooms,

00:46 Lewis says he ended up in the emergency room.

00:49 Doctors found a kidney stone and soon after discovered Lewis had kidney cancer.

00:55 One year later, life is finally turning around.

00:59 It's a struggle but my health is good.

01:01 The house just got fixed.

01:03 I just got my wife's car back from the car shop and I'm all clear of cancer.

01:07 I don't have to go back for another year.

01:09 It took three cranes to get his beloved boat out of the mangroves.

01:13 Lewis did all the repairs to the Mack Attack himself and is back on the water, offering

01:18 fishing excursions to catch grouper and snapper.

01:21 I sat in the steering wheel, I just broke down because I was like, I made it.

01:26 I'm in the water, the boat's operational, God took care of me, my dad looked after me

01:32 and I'm out of here.

01:34 And I drove away and I haven't been back since.

01:37 Lewis says it's too painful to return to Fort Myers Beach.

01:42 He's grateful to be back in business farther up the coast and healthy enough to get back

01:47 out on the Gulf.

01:49 There are miracles that happen even in tragedy.

01:52 For AccuWeather, I'm Bill Waddell.

01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended