A woman who's slowly getting her health back after nearly dying of complications from West Nile virus. A woman who lives in a tent and cherishes phone calls from her grandchildren. A man who's regaining strength in an injured leg to return to the dance floor.
These three Southwest Floridians, ordinary citizens, are giving super-sized thanks as the holiday approaches.
Fifty-five-year-old Kelly Lunghi of Fort Myers still is recovering from West Nile virus. She was infected by the mosquito-borne illness right after recovering from COVID-19. That was in 2020. West Nile can cause serious neurological and other health problems in a small percentage of those infected. Lunghi was one of those.
Lunghi said she also suffered a heart attack while fighting through West Nile.
"I wasn't able to walk or even sit up," she said. "When I say I am lucky to be alive, I really mean that I am lucky to be alive!"
Lunghi give thanks to therapists and her husband of 33 years for helping her regain strength. She is able to walk. She hopes to get back enough motor skills to return to her profession of nursing.
For now she volunteers at the Harry Chapin Food Bank, helping those in need.
"If you haven't almost died, you don't realize how precious life is," Lunghi said. "I didn't realize in going through day-to-day motions how precious that is. But I do now."
Fifty-eight-year-old Marian Hagen is just as grateful, even with a different life experience.
She lives in a tent and sleeps in an old car in North Fort Myers. She give thanks by helping others.
"I am going to be grateful that I am still here and I help people," Hagen said. "I don't think of myself. I think of everybody else."
Hagen said a fire destroyed half of her home right before Hurricane Ian in 2022. Then the storm took out the rest of the place. But the owner of the property, a long-time friend, allows Hagen to stay on the lot, with a tent, grill, car, jugs of water and portable toilet.
"It's about what you do with what you have, and I am grateful for everything I have," she said.
Hagen also draws joy from phone calls from two grandchildren -- twins in Ohio.
"To hear their little voices on the phone, it swells my heart to three times what it is," Hagen said.
She volunteers at the Suncoast Community Center, cooking and serving meals for the less fortunate. She makes a point of giving everyone a big smile. She said she plans to have Thanksgiving dinner at the center.
"If you are not thankful, then what is there in life," she said.
Sixty-nine-year-old Frank Derosky also will feel thankful this holiday.
He said he had a knee replacement operation last winter, and rehabilitation went well. Then one day last spring he fell in his home in Lehigh Acres.
"I had my bare feet, and it was wet on the tile," Derosky said. "I went down, hit my new metal knee, which was fine. But I broke my femur about four inches above the knee."
He said the break was so bad that surgeons had to put a metal plate and seven screws in his right leg. Then came rehabilitation.
"For two months I was in a wheelchair," he said. "I couldn't do a thing."
That bothered Derosky, a retired and divorced man who had been an active member in a dinner and dance group. He said he had enjoyed going out to dance at least once a week.
"Two or three hours I would dance - every dance," he said. "For exercise and social uplift."
Derosky said his brother and therapists have spent months helping him regain strength in his legs. Now he can walk with a cane, and vows to return to the dance floor before long.
"It gives me a lift, rather than being depressed like a lot of people who don't get out," he said of social dancing. "I am very thankful."
Mike Walcher is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Journalism at FGCU. He also works some for WGCU News. He can be reached at mwalcher@fgcu.edu