Holidays are meant to be a happy time, but for some, it can be difficult.
Tragically, Sahuarita Police have now confirmed that Marcus Junior Cook, who turned 5-years-old on December 15th, 2018, has passed away from his fight with cancer on Sunday, Dec. 23. The SPD and Sahuartia send thier prayers to those close to Marcus, including his family and friends.
Earlier this month, Marcus Cook was given an early Christmas by his family and the Sahaurita community. He went by "Junior" and the Rancho Community was helping him celebrate early, along with Christmas.
At the time of the early Christmas celebration, the happy boy was losing a deadly fight. Junior was diagnosed with a brain cancer called anaplastic ependymoma last year. Blaire Mathia, a friend of the family says about 6 months ago, "they got the news that the scans were not what they wanted and the doctors basically told them there's nothing else they can do."
That's why the Rancho Community was celebrating the holidays a little earlier this year. They put up a Christmas light and decorations at Junior's home.
"He tugged at my heart strings," says Lisa Yrigoyen. She choked up when speaking to KGUN 9. Yrigoyen said, "I'm just hoping that he'll have a really good rest of the time that he has here on Earth."
Yrigoyen was one of several Rancho residents who came out on Thursday to help bring Christmas early. Her husband also volunteered to decorate. Richard Yrigoyen says he has a lot of Christmas decorations sitting in his garage. That's why he wanted to help out. "Anything I can bring out to help out the family," he said. "I'm more than willing to do it. I just want to make this as special as possible for Marcus."
Even Rural Metro Fire made it out to help decorate Junior's home. They brought the fire truck and used one of the ladders to reach high spots. Battalion Chief John Walka said, "we wanted to do whatever we can as far as setting up Christmas lights, just doing anything to make his life a little bit better and to help him out before his time."
Some residents are putting blue lights in their windows to honor Junior. Blue is his favorite color.
If you'd like to donate to help Junior's family, you can click here.
