There’s a sliver of good news coming out the incredibly sad story from Marple Township this week.

Little Nicholas McCorkel is proving to be a quite a fighter. The tot who was mistakenly left in the back of his grandather’s car for five hours at the height of this week’s heat wave continues to cling to life in Children’s Hospital.

You can read Rose Quinn’s account here.

By all indications, this was simply a horrible accident. Marple police Chief Tom Murray said yesterday there does not appear to be an other intent involved.

Any decision on whether charges will be filed in the case likely will be made by the D.A.’s office.

Everything about the incident smacked of the kind of routine that so many families play out time and again every day.

The grandfather picks up the tot at his daughter’s and delivers him to day care, then goes on to work. For some reason on this morning, the man did just that, but never dropped the 14-month-old off. Instead he drove to work, closed the car door behind him and went inside. The tot was not discovered until he returned to his car just after lunch.

One look at the photo that appears in today’s paper of little Nicholas celebrating his first birthday confirms the words of the woman who runs the day care center.

“He is just the sweetest boy, low-key, laid-back, just like his mother,” said Patti Karlton.

We’re all pulling for him.