Returning values from multiple headers

[Excelneedhelp]

Hi all,

Looking to return values from multiple headers in an excel sheet.

I have the following table for illustration:

Ideally in 'column 8' i would like to pull the value from the merged header. The problem is there are multiple merged headers running through the sheet. For illustrative purposes I have X and Y below. The element 7 or row 7 is employee IDs. There are multiple employees and each employee can be listed multiple times not only under each header but under multiple headers as well.

the goal is to return the values so eventually I can tally up how many "X"s and "Y"s each employee has in a pivot table.

The header values are all different, the only thing they share in common is that they are alphanumeric and always less than 12 digits.

Any thoughts here?

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD]X (technically merged header)[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Element 1[/TD]
[TD]Element 2[/TD]
[TD]Element 3[/TD]
[TD]Element 4[/TD]
[TD]Element 5[/TD]
[TD]Element 6[/TD]
[TD]Element 7[/TD]
[TD]Column 8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Employee 3
[/TD]
[TD]Return value from merged header above[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Employee 2[/TD]
[TD]return value from merged header above[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Employee 2[/TD]
[TD]Return value from merged header above[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Employee 1[/TD]
[TD]return value from merged header above[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Y(technically merged header, different than first header above)[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Element 1[/TD]
[TD]Element 2[/TD]
[TD]Element 3[/TD]
[TD]Element 4[/TD]
[TD]Element 5[/TD]
[TD]Element6[/TD]
[TD]Element 7[/TD]
[TD]Column A[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Employee 1[/TD]
[TD]return new header value directly above. should return Y[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Employee 2[/TD]
[TD]return new header value of y[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

[Excelneedhelp]

Few clarifying comments:

1. By 'row 7' i meant 'column 7'
2. Element 1 or column 1 also has a 12 digit number. it is always a 12 digit number. the merged headers are different from these numbers in that they are alphanumeric and always less than 12 digits. Typically 5-7. Not sure if that can help in developing what I need.

Thank you!!