Ellis Mallory Marsh
4030 South Morning Star Drive
Salt Lake City, Utah 84124
(801) 588-9593
Olympus High School
“What Drives You?”
In life, there are many things that “drive me” to succeed. I’ve always been one to throw a fit about something but, in the end, get through it. I’m in a Masonic girls’ organization called Job’s Daughters, where I volunteer a lot of time. A few years ago, I met a boy, in the young men’s organization, named Danny Record. I had heard of him many times, he was quite the famous one. When I met him, I heard that he was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 16. We talked casually for a few months and after that our friendship grew. After about two months, Danny’s doctors were able to get his body on a certain treatment that involved giving him Chemotherapy every three in a half years. After time, Danny’s hip was beginning to break because of a disease called A.V.N. (A vascular Necrosis), which is a disease that causes the bones to begin to weaken because of the cut off blood-flow. The doctors sought out options for Danny and a hip replacement was one of them. The surgery was a very painful decision for Danny, but in the end it was successful.
In December of 2008, I was elected into the highest office a girl can reach in Job’s Daughters. My Installation came around and I invited him and hoping that he would be able to make it. Because of the surgery, he told me that he would most definitely do his best to be there, with his promising “you can count on me” statement. January rolled around and I hadn’t heard any word from him saying that he could make it. I thought that it would be best for him that I would just let it be without being too pushy. The day of my Installation, I was in the front looking out into the crowd and I see Danny limping up the stairs with his cane (which he also called the Miranda Beating Stick).
I had a hard time being in charge of everything right as my term started. Every time something negative happened, I would talk to Danny about it. He served as a very powerful leader in the young men’s organization and knew a lot about how some people can be towards you and your ideas. He always had the right thing to say when I was upset and never let me down. As I said earlier, there were times that I just wanted to quit everything and get back on with my life. With Danny there, that was never possible. He always made sure that I would keep going on, doing the very best I could with whatever I was doing school wise, Jobie wise, or anything else that I would be having a difficult time in.
After fifty days of being in the hospital from February to April, the Chemotherapy wasn’t working as the doctors had planned. The doctors had two possibilities; to stick to the same treatment that wasn’t working or a bone marrow transplant. The chances of Danny’s survival without the transplant were slim. With that, they tested his two brothers (Josh, 21 and Aaron, 17) and in that 30% chance of a sibling being a match, Aaron fit perfectly. A few weeks later I was in Provo with the girls from my organization and I got some news saying that the transplant wasn’t working as the doctors had insisted. He had developed a liver disease called V.O.D. (Veno-Occlusive Disease) which clogs the blood-flow through the liver. Knowing Danny, I could finish my night down in Provo as I had planned. On June 29th, I got another call informing me that Danny had been put on 100% life support because his breathing started to slow down which left his family with a very hard decision. The decision was made. The down side was, everyone had two hours to get to the hospital to say our goodbyes.
Danny always had the best sense of humor about everything in life and wouldn’t let anyone by him get away without a smile on face. He was a very important person in my life and I had always promised him that I would never give up on the things I wanted in life. With this, I will not give up and I will continue to reach for the stars no matter what obstacles are thrown at me.
