Death leaves empty space in Marrero family

Victoria Marrero seemed to be getting better, overcoming the lung cancer that was slowly taking her life. It was on her birthday last year, May 16, that the Ocoee resident learned that the persistent cough she was being treated for was actually Non Small Cell Adenocarcinoma.

The 36-year-old wife and mother lost her fight with cancer — a long battle everyone thought she was winning — on June 25, leaving a young family to mourn her death.

Bernie Marrero, 38, knew his wife, Vicky (as she is known to her friends), was something special the first time he saw her converse in American Sign Language. ASL was important to both of them because his mother and her parents are deaf. It was actually Bernie’s mother who introduced the two; she knew Vicky’s parents from the small deaf community in New York, where they all once lived, and the parents had reconnected in Central Florida.

Bernie and Vicky dated and were together for 18 years — 11 of them as a married couple — before her death.

“We had a lot of fun,” Bernie Marrero told The West Orange Times on Monday. “We had a very, very playful relationship. The best part of it was that she was my best friend. We were very cool together. I was very lucky.”

He said one of their favorite activities was playing cards and board games with their children: 15-year-old Nathaniel, 12-year-old Alyssia, 9-year-old Natasha and 7-year-old twins Lorenzo and Julius, both of whom have autism and are confused about their mother’s death.

On the morning his wife died, Marrero called his good friend, Carl Satterwhite, to share the tragic news. The two men have known one another for nearly five years, first meeting at the Ocoee Little League fields when their sons played baseball together. The Marreros moved to Ocoee in 2003.

“He’s probably one of the nicest, genuinely honest human beings you’ll ever meet,” Satterwhite said of Marrero. “He’s been one of my greatest friends, ready to help and do whatever, whenever needed.…Bernie and I have coached young men at the Little League level and on the travel baseball circuit. Bernie has gone above and beyond, out of his way, without question, to help these young men (and sometimes women) on the baseball field.”

This spring, Marrero had been assisting Ocoee High School baseball coach Bob Brewer with the Junior Varsity team but had to step away as his wife’s health worsened.

Satterwhite said Marrero was once an amateur boxer in New York.

“From those experiences, I think, he’s tough, he’s grounded, but he’s also remarkably humbled in every sense of the word,” he said.

“I knew I had to do whatever I could to help him put Vicky to rest,” Satterwhite said. “He had no savings, no way of doing anything.”

When Marrero changed jobs, from FedEX Express to FedEX Ground, he lost his insurance benefits. Vicky Marrero’s health care was partially covered through emergency Medicaid.

To help his buddy, Satterwhite created an account on the fundraising site GiveForward and then sent out this plea to Ocoee residents and the Little League community: “My hope is to raise as much money for this family as we can, remembering that everyone’s time eventually comes and, in times like these, we can rally together and help change a family’s life for the better, albeit briefly, during the inevitable aftermath of such a tragedy.”

Friends and folks in the Ocoee community gave close to $5,000, enough money to cover the funeral expenses and to help Marrero pay some bills.

“Everybody’s been so great. It’s been truly amazing,” Marrero said, thankful for the generosity. He was especially grateful to Bob Loomis, owner of Loomis Family Funeral Homes, for providing “the kind of service Vicky deserved,” and to UCP of Central Florida in Winter Garden, where the twins attend school. The school provided a babysitter for the two youngest children while the rest of the family attended the funeral.

Marrero said the family’s immediate needs are being taken care of, but he said he would appreciate financial help “when school comes around” next month. His children will need school supplies and clothing, and gift cards to stores like Target and Wal-Mart would be a blessing, he said.

Anyone wishing to help can either send gift cards to the Marrero family at 1105 Flewelling Ave., Ocoee 34761; or donate online at giveforward.com/fundraiser/vty4/Victoria-marrero-memorial-fund.