Gabe Marshall's fight with cancer ends 'peaceful,' surrounded by family

Death was the moment the Marshalls knew would come.

Nine-year-old Gabriel Marshall fought a malignant brain tumor in a battle that sometimes brought tender moments that touched hearts across Hutchinson.

Dad Josh Marshall got a tattoo on his shaved head to match the scar on Gabe’s head. That earned the older Marshall St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s #BestBaldDad honor in 2016.

One night in November 2017, the Marshalls’ church family at Park Place Christian Church decorated the home on North Baker Street for Christmas, while four men dressed in superhero costume paid a visit. On that particular night, Gabe’s mother Bethany Marshall described her son’s health as OK.

But there would be more time in a hospital, until they decided to bring him back to Hutchinson.

"We wanted our superhero back in Smallville," said Gabe's father Josh Marshall.

Just minutes into Friday morning at the Hospice House here, Gabe died. “He went peaceful in my arms, surrounded by family,” said Josh Marshall.

“He was a child of faith. He had more faith then most adults,” Josh Marshall said.

“He would light up a room,” Bethany Marshall said.

Gabe “was a very unique soul,” his father said.

“He had a humongous heart,” his mother said.

Gabe was either melting your heart or making you laugh, they said. “He never let anything affect him,” Bethany Marshall said.

The Marshall house was decorated for Christmas in November because it wasn’t clear if Gabe’s health would hold.

“He was talking to us as if we were the real superheroes,” said local attorney Ethan Kaplan, who was Superman for the visit.

“You could just tell he was having a great time, but you could also tell he was tired,” Kaplan said. It was Gabe, politely and much like an adult, who signaled after a discussion with the superheroes, that it was time to call it a night.

It was the first Christmas in the home on North Baker Street for the Marshall family, which includes Gabe’s younger sister Makinzley, age 5. Gabe not only lived to mark Christmas but into the new year.

“He was fighting well past what we had been told,” Kaplan said. “He was a fighter.”