Operation Noel

ago, the marquez family in central el paso lost their beautiful teenage daughter, sarah, to cancer. this is their first holiday season without her. the marquez’s are one of many families who will benefit from your generous donations to operation noel. as abc-7’s stephanie valle shares their story: larry marquez: “it was like a nightmare. we just couldn’t believe it. just swallowed her up. just extremely fast. it was a mean and aggressive kind of cancer.” courtney marquez: “watching the take their last breath is like you losing your life with them.” larry and courtney marquez quit their jobs to be by their daughter’s side. they say they’ll never recover from the loss: larry marquez: “i just left a hole in our hearts. 3:45 courtney marquez: “it’ like you expect her to walk through the door and she doesn’t.” larry marquez: “she fought hard she fought hard to stay alive. till her last breath. it was hard. it just kind of left us broken.” but life goes on. there’s bills to be paid. a younger daughter to raise. courtney marquez: “we not only have to deal wit the loss of sarah, but we don’t have the money to make something nice for jenny so she doesn’t have a bad holiday.” courtney is grateful operation noel will provide her daughter with a warm jacket. courtney marquez: “we don’t have a heater for the winter. warm clothes for jenny. right now, just anything.” what she really wants is a job. courtney has a bachelor’s degree in business administration but keeps getting turned down because of a language barrier: she doesn’t speak spanish. courtney marquez: “all you want is just a foot in the door.” jenny tries to comfort her mother and father. jenny marquez: “i try to take their mind off what they’re thinking about and try to make them laugh and smile.” the loss of sarah – however – still weighs heavily on their hearts: larry marquez: “i just keep feeling. she’s going to walk through that door any minute.” stephani valle, abc-7. our annual operation noel telethon will be next thursday. a donation of 13 dollars and 50 cents will help us pay for one jacket. you can donate online right now on kvia-dot-com. we have a link on our home page. upper low over utah with mostly