Sadness in the MIAC

@backstroker02 wrote:

The MIAC is deeply saddened by the loss of Ted Mullin, a senior at Carleton. He died this past weekend from cancer. For more information go:

http://apps.carleton.edu/news/?content=content&module=&id=234335

http://apps.carleton.edu/athletics/?sport=134193&module=content&id=235195

Wow, that is really sad, a kid taken long before his time. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and anyone who got to know him.

This is excerpted from the Chicago Tribune. Sad loss…He was a great guy.

Cancer couldn’t keep swimmer, coach from pool

By Deborah Horan
Tribune staff reporter

September 7, 2006

Even when a rare cancer forced Edward H. “Ted” Mullin to take time off
from college, the academic All American and avid swimmer found the
time and the strength to volunteer to coach at swim clubs in Glenview,
Evanston and Winnetka.

On the days when chemotherapy made him sick, the New Trier High School
graduate stood poolside, encouraging the children to swim faster, kick
harder, to race the clock to the other side of the pool.

“He loved coaching. He loved working with younger kids,” said his
father, Rick. “He found it very invigorating to work with them and be
able to share his enthusiasm with them.”

Mr. Mullin, 22, died at home in Winnetka on Sunday, Sept. 3,after
succumbing to a two-year battle with a rare soft-tissue cancer called
synovial cell sarcoma. The disease sometimes kept him from classes at
Carleton College in Minnesota, but rarely from the sport he had loved
since he started swimming at age 13.

“Even when he was in a whole lot of pain, he would still be there,”
said Rick Peterson, Mr. Mullin’s former coach who later worked with
him at the Old Willow and New Trier Swim Clubs. “He had tremendous
character. He had mighty spirit to accomplish, as well as to help
others.”

Mr. Mullin, who was born in Chicago, moved with his family to Oakland,
where they lived until 1993, when the family settled in Winnetka. He
graduated in 2002 from New Trier after being named an academic All
American and an Illinois State Scholar.

In high school, he joined the swim team, became co-captain and began
coaching at swim clubs. He followed the sport at the Olympic and the
national levels, on television and online, his father said. He also
played trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.

In fall 2002, he enrolled at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.,
and eventually became captain of the men’s swim team, competing in the
200-yard, 500-yard, and the mile freestyle races.

In May 2004, when Mr. Mullin was completing his sophomore year, he
learned he had cancer and underwent seven months of chemotherapy. He
returned to campus to begin his junior year and was twice elected
co-captain of the swim team.

He received the Patricia V. Damon Merit Scholarship for strong
academic and extracurricular activities, said his mother, Mary J. Henry.

Mr. Mullin co-captained two “relay for life” teams, American Cancer
Society events for which he raised more than $5,000 each to support
cancer research.

The night before he died, Mr. Mullin went for ribs with a half dozen
friends, his father said. “He led his life as best he could literally
to the very end.”

Other survivors include a brother, Evan;and a sister, Catherine.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday in Donnellan Funeral
Home, 10045 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Mass will be said at 10 a.m.
Saturday in Sts. Faith, Hope and Charity Catholic Church, 191 Linden
St., Winnetka.

He shall be missed by all…