Family has new home 1 year after Hurricane Maria

It has been a long year for Frances Torres and her two children. 

“I left everything behind,” Torres said. 

On the day she had to leave her home in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, she is captured in a photo carrying her son and a backpack onto a helicopter.

“It was the hardest moment,” she said. 

Her nine-year-old son, Diego, has a rare medical condition called Propionic Acidemia. He was the only child in Puerto Rico with the disease.

“He’s the only one in Orlando too,” Torres said. 

When they arrived in Orlando, Torres and her two sons did not speak any English.  She needed to learn a new language, get a new job and manage the medical needs of her son. A feeding tube is the only way Diego can get the nutrients he needs. 

“It’s hard,” she said. “It’s hard because I changed my life for my kids.”

On Thursday, exactly one year since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, Torres is still in Orlando. She’s working as a pre-school teacher and has a new apartment to call home. 

“Today it has been a year - it’s like - oh my god… how? How? How this happen? How I make it,” she said. “Diego getting stable, the school, doing interviews to get a job, to be able to have an apartment, looking for some help. God sent me these people.”

The people are volunteers are from the Heart of Florida United Way. They helped Torres put a deposit on her new apartment and provided her with some new furniture from Ikea.

They even helped put the furniture together. Diego also pitched in to help put together his new bed. 

“I’m staying here for the good of him,” Torres said. “I just want him to get a better life. I just want him to live. This is going to be their house, their home, their happy place.”

A year full of hardship and a future full of hope.