Dianna Marcellus
Young survivor puts the polish on an invention
Cancer and its treatment pose many obstacles in a young person's life. Yet, the power of imagination and intelligence can help to overcome such challenges. For one young survivor, technology presented such an opportunity.
At 7, Dianna Marcellus underwent surgery and chemotherapy for brain cancer at Dana-Farber's Jimmy Fund Clinic. Seven years later, she refuses to accept any limitations that will compromise her goals.
Now an eighth-grader at Boston's John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science, Dianna has found a way to compensate for a side effect caused by her treatment:a shaky right hand. She's developed a device that channels nail polish through a long tube, which then supplies paint to the brush of a small, automatic arm that freshly coats her nails.
She built the device after attending a few years ago a Northeastern University summer program that teaches students technical skills. With a foundation constructed mainly from LEGO® building blocks, the mechanism runs on batteries and features a manually operated pump.
In May 2004, the project placed first in "The Power of an Idea Scholarship" competition, for which the 14-year-old received a $15,000 college scholarship from Burns & Levinson LLP, the Boston law firm that sponsored the event. With the firm's help, Dianna submitted her idea to the United States Patent Office and is awaiting a decision. If her applicator is approved, it may be adapted to suit the needs of the elderly and individuals with disabilities, or modified to help deliver drugs such as insulin.
Her invention was inspired partly by a desire for independence. "I was tired of asking my sister to put nail polish on for me," Dianna says. "I am grateful other people may benefit from my idea."
Nurse practitioner Christine Chordas, PNP, a member of Dianna's care team at Dana-Farber, feels the project has helped the teen beyond its current and potential uses. "The experience of diagnosis and treatment seemed inhibiting for Dianna, especially at such a young age when it was difficult for her to understand what was happening," says Chordas. "I think her idea and invention reflect a significant step in her emotional and intellectual recovery."
The ability to transcend limitations is something Dianna first learned at an even earlier age. As her mother, Edeline, recalls, "Dianna grew up like many girls, healthy and active. Originally, she was right-hand dominant, but she fell one day and broke her wrist. She trained herself to use her left hand to write and now teachers think she's always been left-handed."
Such self-determinism has been helped by her mother's support and optimistic attitude. "I tell Dianna, ‘Don't let limitations stop you from doing something. Usually it's fear that stops you, rather than the thing itself,'" Edeline Marcellus explains. "‘Focus on a need, then you'll think of an idea and technology will help you do it. This is how you learn to solve problems for yourself, and also how you can help society.'"
The experiences with adversity that have inspired Dianna's sense of innovation have also revealed wisdom beyond her age. "Because of my experience with illness, I am more mature," she says. "I can understand other people's diseases, and because I understand them, I will not judge them."
— Brent Fisher
