Help Support Mark's Funeral And Family

Late on a Tuesday night, a night that had been a very special and happy evening, turned into the darkest and single most horrific night of our family's entire life. But just as horrific as the end was, the beginning of the night was equaling magnificent. The gorrell family has always done things a little different, anyone that knows us can attest to that. Even from the first night my parents met they were unique in everything they did. The first night my dad met my mom, he told her she was gonna be his wife. Fast forward some time and sure enough they got married, and one by one had four children. Starting early on, our parents decided to home school us, which allowed our family to spend so much precious time together. My father was a life insurance salesman and that gave us so much freedom to go on trips, stay up all night watching movies together, and be there for the important things. My dad supported my mom so she could stay at home with the kids. Unfortunately she started having health problems at only 29 and ended up having multiple back surgeries among other problems that made the financial burden even bigger from all the medical bills. We lived in south Texas for a while and would take trips over to Mexico because medications and treatments were so much cheaper. Inspite of the reasons we still all had a blast everytime. After spending some years in Texas our family decided we wanted to move to Panama in Central America for the cheaper medical care. So we made it happen, sold almost everything, bought a big van (the kind with the bed in the back), loaded up all four kids, a dog, a trailer and were on our way. Along the way we met up with a family friend that was joining us on our adventures. We drove from Texas all the way through south and central America. We traveled for months in that van, and the journey was just as amazing as the destination. Along the way we found many beautiful places that we were able to experience. We met a sweet couple of ladies that invited us to stay at their coffee plantation, visited old Myan pyramids, stayed at a man's house that was so big, we thought it was a hotel and went there looking for vacancies. We went to a circus where we all got to sit on an elephant, drank fresh squeezed orange juice that came from a orange that was bigger than a grapefruit, went to a Day of the Dead Festival where everyone was covered in ash, and so many more amazing memories were made. We finally arrived at our destination and my father opened up his own pizza shop, Mark's Pizzeria, where I can remember making the biggest calzones I've ever seen. We lived on a small island, named Bocus Del Toro, Where everybody knew everybody. I can remember taking a taxi (for 10 cents by the way) and all I'd have to say is "take me to my house" and sure enough everyone on the island knew where the American family lived. Living there was like a child's dream, with a best friend from the island over that had an onry pet monkey, to huge crabs that we would walk on leashes like pets. It was a wonderful few years where we met so many amazing friends that we still keep in touch with to this day. We eventually decided to come back to the states to be closer too our family and moved back to Oklahoma. My father had the dream of someday moving back to a place like that, where his children's children could grow up and experience such a place. Over the years my dad worked hard trying to support his family. Throughout high school our parents said that "school was our job" and insisted that we just focus on that. A few of us developed our own health problems that made it difficult to work, but still had some jobs here and there. Our parents were very adamant on wanting us to do what made us happy and trying to give us every opportunity to become whatever we desired. Our dad hoped that some of us would go into business with him so that we could continue having the freedom that he had while working in this field. If anyone knew my dad, they knew he was one of the most generous men out there. Even if we were short on money, if he saw someone in need, it didn't matter if you were a friend or a stranger he would do what he could to help. Throughout our time in Oklahoma he allowed many of our friends to live with us and helped support them as well. Him and my mom became a second parent to alot of my friends. Many of which turned into family and are still around today. Our father has touched many people's lives. I met the man of my dreams in highschool. He was a close friend of my older brother, not only was he wonderful for me, but he fit like a glove into our odd and unique family. After many years in Oklahoma, it became my father's dream to return our family back to the beach. My father worked hard and was able to make it happened. The whole family packed up, said their goodbyes to many loved ones, then made the move to Texas. The move was very costly and set the family back quite a bit. Times were harder than ever before. We all struggled to make it work, my father most of all. He never wanted us in a job we wouldn't love, so he insisted on supporting us while we tried making each of our dreams a reality. My sister is in college to get a Nursing Degree, unfortunately that is not cheap. My fiancee and older brother started working for my dad, and he began training them. In my father's business leads are essential, when we moved he lost many of the ones he had acquired and since my father, brother, and fiancee were all in the same business, it became very costly to buy leads. We were able to scrape by but the problem was with such a big family any money made, had to be spent on the bills and essentials. Many times he had to choose bills over leads, which in the end only dug a bigger hole. Throughout all of these hard times, my dad still insisted and encouraged that any day now, this job would pay off and everything would work out. No matter how hard it became for him, he refused to give up on our dream of having our family remain together under one roof and by the beach we so loved, especially after seeing the dramatic health improvements of our ill family members. Also, he just couldn't handle the thought of his children working some terrible job with even worse pay and feeling like they never got to see us anymore. So, we tried to wait it out for the hopes of a better life. Finally, he seemed to get the lead issues worked out, so he put his money and hope into this next set of leads. We truly felt that things were turning around for us and we just had to make it till these leads came in. My younger brother and sister both have birthdays within a few days of each other and that was just around the corner, so my dad sold some things to provide money for the birthdays. Finally, the day was here, we had just got done celebrating my youngest brother's 21st birthday. It was a calm evening considering which birthday it was. My dad cooked some delicious coconut rice and meatballs on my brothers request and I, (being the awesome big sister I was!) made a homemade peach and apple cobbler for his birthday cake (even though it was a pie). We ate and he opened his present; it was a new gaming chair. My brother absolutely loved it, and that made my father so happy to see his son that excited about his gift. We had planned to have the big, fun night out that following Saturday when we would all go dancing (even mom) to celebrate. Unfortunately, we would never have that night. None of us could have expected what happened next. Later that evening, we heard a yell from my mom that our father had collapsed. It was horrific. We all had to stand there in my mom's room, watching while our dad tried to fight for his life. Our family immediately did what it always does, we banded together and did our jobs. My sister and mom started CPR on my dad, my big brother turned him over trying to clear his airways, while my youngest brother called 911. After a few minutes, our father started to take a few breaths on his own. We were so thankful that our efforts seemed to be working. After the paramedics showed up, there was nothing else we could do to help. So, we held each other's hands and prayed over our father. In the end, all our hard work, prayers, and tears couldn't change God's Will. In one swift moment our entire world just shattered. You always think that this kind of thing couldn't really happen to you, that somebody you love couldn't be taken away so quickly and without any warning. I found out in the worst way that it can. Death does not discriminate, it doesn't have to make since or be fair, it doesn't have to give you time to plan or even say goodbye. The whole time I kept thinking he's gonna pull through, he will wake up, we'll cry, hug and fuss at him for scaring us and insist from now on he's gonna start taking better care of his body. It didn't work like that, we didn't get the opportunity for a second chance. It was done and there was nothing to do. We all lost a father and my mom lost her husband of 29 years, and was now a widow at only 48, that wasn't fair either. Coming home from the hospital that morning without our father was the hardest thing we have ever done. Luckily we still had each other and we pulled together in our typical family style. Since none of us could stand to be alone, every family member brought their top mattress into the living room, pushed all the furniture aside and our living room became wall to wall beds allowing us all to be together while we slept. The next few days were terrible, but what made it that much harder was finding out there was no money and learning how big of a hole we were in. The very next day the electricity got shut off, we couldn't even afford that. We had to ask for help, and thank the lord one of our best friends got it turned back on for us. Now our water is shut off, with a 2,000 dollar balance that we are completely baffled on how that's even possible. Unfortunately this is only the beginning of the pile of shut off notices that are all coming in at the same time. We have to move out of our current house because rent and utilities are just so much more than we can afford now. We are struggling to figure out how to provide enough food, let alone the funeral, bills, or moving costs. Our family has always been so strong and we will do whatever we can to make it work here. My dad worked so hard to get us here and to give us the opportunity to make a good life. We all are sticking together as a family but unfortunately we were a bit sheltered throughout our lives and were not prepared for this. My dad took care of everything for my mom since she is disabled, so none of us knew the extent of our debt or even what or when our Bill's were due. Now the plans each of us made for our lives has gone out the window. With my mom being sick we have to take care of her financially and now my sister won't be able to finish her nursing degree, my brother and fiancee never got a proper opportunity to make their job work, there's no way my younger brother or I can afford the money for school either. With everything that just happened every single one of our plans for the future and the jobs we were working towards have come to an abrupt end. Our family is so lost and hurt from this tragedy. We are coming to our friends, family, and anyone with a kind heart and the means to help us, to please do so. My dad taught us all to always help those in need by his actions of doing that so many times. But now we find ourselves being the ones that need help. Though It is hard on us to ask for help, there's no other way. We will do anything to stay together as a family in this. So please, if our family's journey touches your heart, any amount you can spare could make a world of difference. If you knew Mark personally, if you loved him or if he's ever helped you out of a bind (and if you can), help his family get through this. Also if there's anyone in Corpus Christi Texas that has or knows of anyone with rental properties that would be willing to work with our non existent credit please get in touch with me. Thank you to everyone that took the time to read this and if nothing else we could use all the prayers we can get, God bless.