Mariel White has been paralyzed from the waist down since 2018.
She was diagnosed during her sophomore year at UF with Churg-Strauss syndrome, a rare disease where blood vessels become inflamed, restricting blood flow to organs throughout the body. She took two years off from school for treatment.
Now a 22-year-old sports management senior, White shared the story of her return to college in an episode of UF’s strategic communications department’s first podcast series, “Unstoppable Minds.” The episode will air this week.
The series highlights the perseverance of UF students and faculty members against immense obstacles, said Nancy Paton, UF vice president of strategic communications and marketing and a member of the podcast team. UF released the first of the seven-episode series Tuesday.
The initial idea, Paton said, was to raise the university’s national prominence by highlighting the work being done by faculty, staff and students by sharing their journey to overcome obstacles in their field.
From a UF professor’s efforts to fight a genetic mutation in babies, to another’s mission to address racial and social biases in healthcare, the podcast would show how they have overcome adversity in their personal journey, she said.
“Our spirit here of determination and persistence and resilience is distinctive, and it sets us apart,” Paton said.
Paton’s team has been working on the podcast since the beginning of the Fall semester. It’s release amid COVID-19 makes its message even more relevant, Paton said.
Paton said that releasing stories in such a manner allows the university to engage with people and provide them with a sense of being on campus.
New episodes will be released for free every Tuesday leading into June on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Podcasts, Paton said. They will be narrated by Kyla McMullen and Jeremy Waisome, faculty members of UF’s College of Engineering.
White said she was approached to be a part of the podcast after her story was highlighted in UF’s alumni magazine.
During her time off, White started a blog to share her experience, provide support to others going through similar situations and even educate others who might not understand, she said.
White said she wants to prove that, despite her limitations, she can still pursue her goals and passions as anyone else would.
“I did feel like UF was there for me and that was kind of my motivation,” White said. “For my recovery and to get back to school, I wanted to be able to share that and I thought it was just a really cool opportunity.”
Paton said the title, “Unstoppable Minds,” came about as they heard the stories that students and staff went through.
“As we continue to learn from them and hear their journey, we are inspired by their journeys and their impact that they're making here at this university,” Paton said. “And just, unstoppable seems to be such a great description of who they are as people.”
Click here to listen to the first episode of “Unstoppable Minds.
Contact Nicole at nrodriguez@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @_nrodriguez99.
