Support Marquito's Final Journey Home

On Wednesday, May 5, we took our beloved nephew Marquito to the ER after the school nurse alerted us that he was experiencing dizziness and an alarmingly high heart rate. That night, we learned from an X-ray that he had a heretofore unknown brain tumor, and scarcely a week later, despite all the best efforts of a caring team of doctors and nurses, we found ourselves saying goodbye to him at 16, not six months after he first came to live among us.

Marquito lived a quiet life of sweet smiles, always ready to accompany any of his many uncles to help them fix his grandparents' fence or hand them some tiles as one uncle renovated the bathroom of another on a Saturday afternoon. Anytime we asked him what he wanted to eat or to do, we knew that likely as not, his answer would be a gentle one best translated as "Whatever your preference is, ma'am [sir]." He dearly loved his two older brothers and two younger sisters, his many cousins aged 3 to 33, his dozen pairs of uncles and aunts, and above all, his grandparents and widowed mother.

So much pain lies before us, and with that pain, so many expenses for which the family was completely unprepared. (We've been told that details help potential givers understand the need for assistance, so we will be providing more detail than we normally would to family and friends.) Returning a person to his native country when he passes away on foreign soil — known as repatriation — is an expensive and complicated process. First, a funeral home here in the United States must be contracted to prepare the deceased for burial, submit and follow up on paperwork at the state and federal level as well as with the foreign country, and coordinate transport arrangements with a funeral home in the receiving country. Although the hospital helped immensely by helping to select a funeral home and reaching out to specialized charities that aid families in the wake of a loss such as this, the generous assistance from these foundations in covering more than half the $5500 fee still left a balance of $2500 for the family to pay the local funeral home.

Then there is the cost of arrangements in Marquito's native El Salvador. The funeral home must be paid to transport our loved one from the national airport to his home in the mountains at the far end of the country, as well as for the funeral service to be held there and a burial plot to be purchased. In addition, it was important to the family that an additional velorio (a mourning tradition similar to a visitation or a wake) be conducted first where he lived for some years at the home of Marquito's grandparents, which creates an additional transportation expense to be paid the funeral home. Beyond all these costs, which are still being calculated, there is the additional burden of purchasing the outbound and return flights for his uncle Marco (and aunt Andrea) to go to El Salvador to continue arrangements as well as to accompany the rest of the family and their grief. Marco's stay will involve renting a car and driving among the family homes in different rural locations. You can imagine how quickly these expenses accumulate, and although family members in the US have contributed what they can, each family unit already was hard-pressed to cover everyday living expenses. Savings quite simply do not exist.

We are all heartbroken over Marquito’s passing and were unprepared for the expenses involved in providing the final farewell he deserves and that will help to comfort those back home who have been wrenched by this unexpected loss just when they had been hoping for him to have a bright future with extended family in a faraway place.

We are actively fundraising to pay for these funeral arrangements and must raise the funds quickly, as his uncle Marco's flights must be purchased early within the next couple of days so that he can already be there when Marquito arrives approximately the weekend of May 24th (dates are pending confirmation of the State of Texas accepting the paperwork, at which point the local funeral home begins arranging final transport), and he will need to be able to pay the Salvadoran funeral provider either upon arrival or shortly afterward; his aunt Andrea will be purchasing a flight for around the same date and time as Marquito is transported, so the usual airfare savings of purchasing in advance are not an option. If you are in a position to donate, we would be very grateful. Whatever you can give, it all adds up.

If you know someone with one with whom you would like to share the link, please do. This will also help us reach more people who knew Marquito or his grieving family members here in Texas, in other states, or abroad, so please consider sharing it as well.

Your kindness and support are greatly appreciated.

Marco and Andrea

Marquito's mother, P.

the G. & B. families