TORTURED DOCTOR DIES

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18159, 25 October 1930, Page 14 (Supplement)

TORTURED DOCTOR DIES

49 YEARS OF MARTYRDOM FOR HUMANITY. NOTES AND PICTURES OF HIS OWN DISEASE.

For 49 years a London doctor lived through agonies such as the human frame is seldom called upon to endure. At, his death he has left behind him a faithful record of his symptoms in the hope that these, with his body; for examination, may prove of benefit to mankind. He was Dr. Leonard Portal Mark, of Oxford Terrace, Paddington, and in fulfilment of a lifelong wish the doctors of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital have performed their sad post-mortem task. As a young man Dr. Mark fell a victim to a rare disease called aero- , megaly, a painful, crippling, and, so j far, incurable disease. Acromegaly Is derived from two Greek words meaning “ends" and “big." The affliction causes enlargement of the hands and feet, an alteration of the bones of the head, and affects the eyesight. One day when just out of his studentship Dr. Mark overheard some of his colleagues discussing him, and thus learned of his fate for the first time. He smiled, and reconciled himself to a life of martyrdom. Dr. Mark was born in France, the son of the British Consul at Marseilles. He studied medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and, with a taste for art, became pathological draughtsman. Finding there was no known cure for acromegaly, Dr. Mark set himself to find one. “His decision w'as by no means a selfish one,” stated Mr J. N. Ungoed Pitt, -who lived with Dr. Mark. “He regarded himself as incurable, but made up his mind that he would live as long as possible in order that a future generation might benefit by his sufferings. “It is hard to speak of what followed. The disease spread until he was scarcely able to stand. He suffered from the excruciating headaches which are a symptom of tho disease, but he never lost courage. He would never allow himself to be

an invalid. He regarded himself as a patient submited to the care of a specialist (himself) and, whatever pain or inconvenience he suffered, he Always Found the Strength to commit details of his symptoms and his sufferings to paper. “That became his life’s work. He felt that if the doctors of the world were provided with accurate data on .which to work they would ultimately find a cure for acromegaly—and so he suffered in silence. It was the same right to the last. Dr. Mark recorded his symptoms and his reactions day after day. When his swollen hands woud not permit him to write he dictated what-he wanted recorded, and when he finally died, as he always desired to die. watering his flowers, we found that he had beoueathed his records and his body to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital." “The extent to which Dr. Mark succeeded in his desire to find a cure for the dread and painful disease which robbed him of wife, family, and career is not known," said a medical colleague, “but the fact that he lived to the age of 75 is significant. There Is no doubtng the value of the notes and photographs of himself he has left behind.” One of the doctors who, 49 years ago, told Dr. Mark of his fate paid a tribute to the courage and the skill of his old friend. This doctor is now world famous and one of the greatest authorities on brain diseases in this country. “Mark knew what to expect,”: he said, “and he s'uck it. He was a fine fel.ow, one of ; the best men I "have known. No one can minimise his courage and belittle his attitude to life. We know now far more about acromegaly than we .did when Mark first knew he had it, and much of that knowledge we owe to him."