This holiday season, a Tampa man who was homeless on the streets is now in his very own home for the holidays. Eric Cox has lived through numerous tragedies. Years ago, Eric Cox lost his first wife just days before his son's first birthday. "She died of a stroke and a heart attack," Cox said. Cox's world was turned upside down. He became a single dad with five kids. To get him through, he wrote a song called 'Hero.' He said he needed a hero and his hero became his faith. Four years ago, Cox faced another crisis in his life with having to undergo open heart surgery. "My right artery was going behind my heart. It was a birth defect. I was born like that," Cox said. Cox couldn’t return to work due to the surgery and he was living with his daughter at the time. When she had a child of her own, Cox felt it was time to move out. "I didn’t want to invade the space so that’s when I became homeless," he recalled. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/tampa-homeless-man-home-for-holidays/67-4cc757be-4b3f-4804-b2e6-a539c1a80455 ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay