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Living His Life
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It's sometimes easy to listen to a conversation or watch an individual and judge who they are. Some might say that it is human nature. One look at Mark Elliott, Beta Kappa (Coe) '08, and you would think he looks like any other person. If you overheard him talking, you might hear his dialect and wonder what part of Europe he came from.
Those are small glimpses of Elliott. If you had the chance to sit down and have a conversation with him, you might discover a fantastic person with experiences in music that would leave you amazed. If you watched his everyday interactions, you would see his genuine care for |
his students. But what you might never figure out is that he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Elliott learned about his diagnosis last fall. At this time, pancreatic cancer has only a five year survival rate from the time of diagnosis. In other words, there is no cure, but that doesn't mean Elliott is going down without a fight. He experiences pain on a daily basis, but he still continues to teach vocal students in his studio at Coe College.
"Thanks to my teaching and my students, I find myself on the road of at least coping with my illness, if not beating it," Elliott states.
Born and raised in Great Britain, his education followed the English Cathedral tradition, which begins teaching music to students at age seven. By the age of 16, Elliott received his Bachelor's degree and later his Master's degree at the Royal College of Music. He later travelled to India where he obtained his Doctorate at the University of Madras.
It may seem that Mark was born to be a musician, but that wasn't always the case. His other passion was show jumping horses (an equestrian event), but he realized the stabilizing force that music had been in his life, and it became his primary focus.
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Pancreatic cancer is considered to be incurable because diagnosis is usually made in its later stages. Over 40,000 people in the United State are diagnosed every year. At this time, there is no standard diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer because many of its symptoms are not always obvious and usually develop gradually.
Some of these symptoms include:
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Pain in the upper abdomen or upper back |
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Yellow skin and eyes, and dark urine from jaundice |
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Weakness |
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Loss of appetite |
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Nausea and vomiting |
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Weight loss |
Some patients and their doctors choose palliative therapy, which aims to improve the quality of life by controlling pain and other problems caused by this disease. Treatments may be able to control the disease and help patients live longer and feel better. The five-year survival rate for patients with pancreatic cancer is about five percent.
Sources:
www.cancer.gov
www.pancan.org
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For almost twenty years, Elliott's solo career led him to performances in Germany and Czechoslovakia. It was never a problem for him to keep busy with the number of performance venues throughout Europe.
"There are more traditional venues (in Europe) in the sense of traditions that have been established over hundreds and hundreds of years," Elliott comments. "We have at least 1,500 years of music tradition. The United States by comparison is still a fledgling country."
While auditioning in Germany in 1982, he met his wife, Roseanne, a dramatic soprano born in America, and they married in 1986. They moved back to the United States in 1998 to allow her to care for her mother living in Iowa after her father passed away. Elliott began looking for work and applied at a number of schools. Coe College was one of the schools that offered him an opportunity to audition, and he found an instant connection while on campus.
"I could tell once I walked on campus that this was going to be a perfect fit," he recollects. "I loved the campus. I loved the feel. I immediately took to the colleagues whom I had met. The rest is twelve years of history."
Even though there is no cure for his cancer, Elliott continues to get treatments to help extend his life and his ability to work with the people who request his expertise. To him, doing anything else would be selfish. While maintaining his vocal studio at Coe College, he also travels to present masterclasses and lectures. As part of a trip to Florida International University, Elliott took some time to meet and talk with the members of the Rho Eta Chapter.
In an act of complete selflessness, Elliott initiated a campaign to donate Build-a-Bears to the oncology department of a local children's hospital. Actually, his wife started it by building a bear for him every week after his chemotherapy treatments. By the time he was done, his wife had accumulated over 20 teddy bears and he realized he had yet another opportunity to give back.
He decided the best thing to do was to give them away. His desire to do so comes from his philosophy of living life through the eyes of a child. |
| Elliott in the role of Sir John Falstaff from the opera "The Merry Wives of
Windsor" by Otto Nicolai |
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| Elliott demonstrates a "Krishna" pose
from the Bharatnatyam School of Temple Dance in Madras south India |
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"The important part of living life is finding that 'inner child' to keep in touch with that pure innocence that has the ability to overcome so many things that we, as adults, sometimes forget," Elliott explains.
Working with the students in his studio and the music department, he received 126 bears to distribute to children with cancer. Almost 100 bears were provided to children at the Children's Oncology Department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The remaining bears were given to the pediatric intensive care unit at the Genesis Health Group, where Elliott received his treatment.
Whether or not Elliott is aware of it, this is an act of a true Sinfonian. While many Sinfonians bring music to uplift the spirits of those who are ill through the Mills Music Mission, Elliott proves that there are numerous ways to give of oneself, even if you are also suffering.
As Elliott deals with the constant pain from the cancer, he refuses to "sit in a corner and wait for the grim reaper." Instead of living the disease, he is living his life. He finds his strength in his students, his faith, and his family. There is no "bucket list" of things he hopes to do before he passes. Everything he does is part of who he is as a musician, an educator and a man, and he does it to ensure his continued positive effect on those with whom he works.
Elliott points out, "We all make our contributions, no matter how great or small."
Editor’s Note: Brother Elliott passed away on August 3, 2010.
Front Page Photo reprinted with permission. Copyright 2010 The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa |
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