Brenda McCool, Brooklyn Native and Mom of Many, 'Died Protecting Son' in Orlando

Photo via GoFundMe

Brooklyn, NY — Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, a Latina woman from Brooklyn who mothered 11 children and survived two bouts of cancer, has been named among the 50 murdered early Sunday morning while parting inside Pulse, a gay club in Orlando.

The nightclub massacre was the largest of its kind in U.S. history.

McCool, 49, made one final post to Facebook before she was gunned down in the wee-hours bloodbath: a video of her dancing the salsa inside Pulse nightclub.

McCool reportedly went to Pulse that night with one of her sons, identified by the New York Daily News as Isaiah Henderson.

Henderson survived the massacre — and he may have had his mother to thank.

McCool's sister-in-law, Ada Pressley, said in an interview with the Daily News that the mother of 11 saw the shooter, Omar Mateen, point his assault rifle toward her and her son. 

"She said, ‘Get down,’ to Isaiah, and she got in front of him,” Pressley told the Daily News.

By Tuesday afternoon, McCool's children were around $8,000 shy of their $30,000 goal on a GoFundMe page set up to cover their mom's funeral costs and support the younger children going forward.

"She was single mother," wrote one of her sons, Farrell Marshall. "She now leaves 11 children alone on this earth who's in need of dire help from anyone. Anything to help us in need of this time would be greatly appreciated."

"All I ask is for prayers and whatever you can to help me and brothers sisters to be able to pick up the pieces where she left off. You will forever be in our hearts," Marshall wrote. "Always. I truly love you so much MOM!"

You can contribute to the McCool fund here.

Another Brooklyn native, young Bed-Stuy social worker Ernesto Rios, was also identified Monday as one of Mateen's dozens of victims. You can read his story and visit his family's GoFundMe page here.