Welcome to my rant about this godforsaken character that's been haunting my mind!
What the hell is actually Mark Booker's diagnosis?
So, we know how in Act 6 when Paige tries to diagnose Mark, Edega interrupts her before she can say the diagnosis and tells her to instead just treat the symptoms. Therefore, we are never actually told what Mark's condition is.
Here's what we know: Despite being stressed and overworked back when he worked in Middlesea, Mark didn't actually get sick until he left and had his little fallout/breakup/whatever the fuck you want to call it with Edega. This was also followed by a period of anxiety, obvious depression and generally horrible mental health. We also know standard treatment didn't help and he progressively kept getting worse.
And here comes the most obvious clue that was literally right in front of us.
(excuse the blurry pic I am not using an AI image enhancer) His heart is literally broken. Physically. You can also see in Blurred that, even though his (and Edega's) EKG line shortened, his heart was still intact. Only after he quits does his heart break and the illness set in. We also know that the doctors Mark previously visited didn't manage to figure out what was wrong.
So, what does this tell us?
Mark most probably suffers from stress-induced cardiomyopathy/takotsubo cardiomyopathy. AKA, broken heart syndrome.
Broken heart syndrome is most commonly developed after an extremely stressful event, such as a loss of employment, sudden life change, loss of a relationship, severe anxiety. Out of which Mark went through... Basically all of the above. Ain't he a lucky guy?
Mark exhibits essentially all the symptoms and fits the diagnostic criteria. Sudden onset of symptoms after a stressful event, anxiety, chest pain, reduced heart function, general fatigue. Broken heart syndrome is (in most cases) reversible, but in some cases can persist and permanently damage the heart and even cause cardiac arrest! (remember the end of Act 7? Fun.) It's also a condition that doctors often look for only after eliminating all other possible causes, which explains how every other specialist missed it.
Also, Mark's heart heals after the entire miracle defibrillator shenanigan with Edega, symbolizing both physical healing and emotional healing/finally letting go of the past.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk I love yapping :) here's a little sketch I did of Mark a few weeks ago as a reward for getting through my rambling!
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