Listen closely to the music playing next time you’re grabbing coffee at Starbucks. If it’s a relaxing piano piece, it might just be the work of Tacoma teenager Marc Estabrook.
Estabrook, 18, is a senior at Bellarmine Preparatory School. Until recently he was shy about letting people know that he has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that causes mucus to build up in his lungs.
Every morning and evening, he puts on a blue inflatable vest called an airway clearance system. He turns it on, and it puffs up with air.
“It vibrates, so I can shake out all that mucus,” Estabrook said.
He also puts a device in his mouth to inhale antibiotics. Then somehow he musters up a complete calm and sits down to play piano while he’s breathing in the medicine and while his chest is being shaken.
Make-A-Wish
Estabrook might have just continued playing his music at home if it hadn’t been for the local chapter of Make-A-Wish, a foundation that grants wishes for kids with life-threatening conditions.
“At first I wanted a car, but they said, `No,’ so I had to think of something bigger,” Estabrook said. “So I wanted to record my music and then share it with the world.”
And that what’s happened.
He made a CD, an executive from Starbucks who volunteers with Make-a-Wish heard it, and now, two of his compositions are being played in Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada — and soon, Europe, Latin America and Japan.
'It's Kind Of Given Him A Boost'
All of a sudden, Estabrook, who describes himself as a “pretty humble, shy guy,” is in the limelight.
But his mom, Robin Estabrook, says it’s been a wonderful experience.
“I’m really happy for him. I think it’s kind of given him a boost,” she said. “It’s just given him a good outlook, like there’s a future for him.”
Estabrook won’t make any money from the deal, but his music is for sale online, and he and his family hope people will donate to either the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or the Alaska Washington chapter of Make-A-Wish.
