INTRO (NPR Version):

Time now for StoryCorps….

Mark Gaskin worked on the roads of Colorado as a traffic controller…

After being seriously injured in an accident on the job… he found himself unable to work, keep up with his bills… and hold on to his home.

Today, Mark lives out of his car… parked outside the apartment where his elderly aunt lives. 

Mark has become her main caretaker…. and he told his sister, Debra Ayo [AY-oh], how HE became the person his aunt needed most.  

Transcript

MG: In July of last year, her account had gotten hacked. 

DA I remember. 

MG: And I didn’t find out until her rent was due that she had $12 in her account. 

I went to the office when she got her first notice of eviction, and I told them, I said, there’s no way my aunt’s gonna live on the streets. And handed over my debit card.

I don’t have extra money, but without hesitation I paid her rent.

I didn’t want my aunt, this 81-year-old woman, trying to live the way I was living my life, sleeping in my car, having to go to rec centers to shower, going to food banks to eat.

DA: In reality as a homeless person, you helped Auntie not to be homeless.

MG: I’m glad I was able to show her that our relationship goes beyond finances. It’s just love. 

Cleaning up the house, doing laundry, taking her shopping, even if she doesn’t wanna buy anything, but she just wants to get out of the house. That’s what I do. 

And she’s always asking, well, does it bother me? I told her, I says, no, I says, this is what I’m here for.

DA: Where do you think we learned how to take care of our elders?

MG: Growing up I remember, mom, she doesn’t have a car. She has nine kids. Her parents lived five miles away. And so in order for her to take care of her parents, she had to pack us up, walk the five miles to go visit them, take care of their everyday needs, and then we’d have to walk back.

You know, it’s tough right now because my situation, living outta my car. But it doesn’t change my duty as a member of this family.

DA I can truly say that I am so pleased with the way you have taken care of Auntie. 

Should anything happen today and she passes, when you lay your head down at night you’ve done all that you can do. You did your best with what was given to you.

MG  Before, you know, I was doing so good. I had a great job, had a two bedroom house, my own private yard. Now all that’s gone. 

But I’m ok with that because the joy that I get from knowing that Auntie’s taken care of, it’s worth it for me. 

BACK ANNOUNCE (NPR Version):

Mark Gaskin and his sister Debra Ayo [AY-oh]…

Their conversation is archived at the Library of Congress.