Elissa Rose
1952 - 2005

Elissa's Bio (A Life) Residence: Orange County, California 52 years old…errrrrrrrrrrrr young! Mother of two beautiful daughters. It’s amazing how we all think we’re invincible. That we’ll live forever or that when we do die, we hope it will be of old age in the loving arms of lifetime soul mate and with your children grown and happy. We all hope for that and yet things don’t always work out that way and we’re always tested. I was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1952 to loving parents and a brother 5 years my senior. In 1955 we moved to Southern California. I recall going to Disneyland the year they opened, stood up on a stage at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Frontierland and sang “Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the wild frontier!” Did all the normal things a young girl would do, played with Barbie Dolls, took piano lessons for years and found I had a major talent in art. Loved art. Graduated high school and while in college discovered a love for photography. My dad built a darkroom in the garage so I could do all my own photos. I was 19. At that time, Sammy Davis Jr. was appearing in concert and my parents got tickets for their 25th Wedding Anniversary for us to go. I had always admired his talent for there was nothing he could not do. Of course I took my camera, the photo freak that I was, and took hundreds of shots of Sammy performing. Guards pulled us away but I only returned again when it was clear. Guards came again and that time, Sammy stopped singing and said “Hey, hey leave my friends alone…if they want to take pictures, you let them!” I was in my glory! When my college professor saw the pictures he said, “Sammy needs to see these!” So of course I sent them to Sammy Davis Enterprises. Little did I know then that that would be the start of an ongoing freelance photo position with him, taking pictures at his performances on the west coast. After that came marriage and giving birth to the joys of my life, my daughters Jennifer, now 23 and Amanda, now 19. Unfortunately in 1991 I became a single parent…but the girls dad and I have remained friends ever since. How could we not be….look at what we share! There was a 2nd marriage some years later but that was short lived and we won’t go there! Big mistake! Both my daughters are talented in their own right. Jenn graduated college in May of 2004 and does special effects make-up for movies and Amanda, currently in college, is a singer and is currently writing her own songs and working on cutting a CD. Am I proud? Words cannot express how proud! And because of them…I WANT TO LIVE! ...Which brings us to today June 19, 2005. I lost my dad nearly 8 years ago. He survived a 6 way by-pass, prostate cancer, and a heart transplant but it was Melanoma that took his life. So many lives and he fought till the end. My wonderful mom is my main caregiver, is stronger than she makes out to be and is here for me unconditionally. She’s amazing. My brother is a medical scientist (PhD Immunology, UCLA School of Medicine) with substantial training, work experience and expertise in the cancer field over more than two decades, He served as Assistant and Associate Professor at 2 major U.S. medical schools, as a tenured U.S. Government Senior Investigator and Branch Head with affiliations at the National Naval Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, and as Director and Chief Scientist in the biotechnology industry. He is my main source of medical information. That's really about all there is. Except for this: I know we all face mortality at some time. I know that life moves on, that death is inevitable, and that in the end we each have to face it alone. But I also know that we should at least be granted the opportunity to fight when the fight makes sense. And I am heartbroken that am being denied that chance, not because I think I'll somehow cheat death, but because of a bottom line, a profit margin, a dividend. I think back to when I was a child, eyes wide at Disneyland, life a wondrous adventure laying before me. I remember giving birth to my girls, and the awe with which I looked at their lives, and slowely watched them grow -- did I say slowly? It all seems so fast now... it all was so fast. I grew up in a wonderful America, and I grew up in an America that was indeed a "culture of life"; where the deals we entered into were honored. I paid my premiums, even when it was hard to do. I went through the process, my faith in our society's morality firm and unshakable. And in the end, I am a number that tips the balance away from a healthier profit margin. My death makes someone's payment on their boat or Lexus easier to manage. I think we all deserve a better chance than that.         ~~Elissa