Four GCC students are featured on the latest episode of "Germanna Today," including Chanelle Felder (pictured above), who talks about figuring out for herself what the disease that had baffled her doctors was--then beating it. John W. Tyler talks about winning a national award for innovation at a time he had to think about his little girl in order to force himself to roll out of bed because he was so drained by cancer treatments. And Kimberlie and Brian Morris talk about going from living in their car to the President's List. Click on the link below to watch the cable TV show:
Chanelle Felder graduates from Germanna tomorrow, Wednesday, May 9. Spring Commencement is set for 7 p.m. at the Fredericksburg Expo Center. In this Fredericksburg.com video she talks about her fight, beginning at age 16, to have her illness diagnosed.
In this Fredericksburg.com video, Chanelle talks about Germanna and her career plans.
Chanelle Felder found her mission in life through the mysterious illness that left her mind in a fog, her body bloated and her high-energy lifestyle on hold.
“I was directionless before,” the 22-year-old said. “Now I have a laserlike focus on what I want my legacy to be and what I want to get out of life.”
Felder, who graduates from Germanna Community College on Wednesday, was 16 when her slender 5-foot, 7-inch frame started expanding inexplicably.
She began having crying spells, waking in the middle of the night, and suffering numbness and pain in the feet that for years had carried her gracefully across dance floors.
Clumps of hair started falling out, she became sluggish, and her normally sharp mind started going blank.
Felder was a Mountain View High School junior, cheerleader and honors student when the symptoms began.
Chanelle Felder, 22, has turned things around dramatically at Germanna.
She found them shocking and frightening.
Doctors offered possible diagnoses such as a thyroid disorder, but none fit until the North Stafford teen stumbled upon a program on the Discovery Health channel.
“My turning point was an episode of Mystery Diagnosis,” she said. MORE
GCC Student Chanelle Felder with one of her biggest supporters, Germanna Stafford Center coordinator and adviser Judi Johnson-Bartlett.
