This exceptional young man's anxiety has become a platform by which he has found his journalistic voice. With the help of the Child Mind Institute, Wyatt has spread the word about mental health interviewing famous people whose personal experience intersects his own; and, recently on the Today Show, by being the subject of an interview with Carson Daly.
By Jay Behrke
MONROE, NY – Gail Sullivan is a girl on a mission: to throw as many young bodies to the wrestling mat as she can, all day, every day. "I like taking people down, and just beating them," said the feisty 10-year-old, who at first glance appears meek and shy. But ask her to wrestle someone, and Gigi (as she's known to family and friends) transforms into something almost otherworldly – and most definitely not meek.
About competing against the boys, she shrugged, "I do it every day, so I'm kinda used to it."
The boys aren't. Many leave the floor in tears, shocked at how easily they were handled by this seemingly harmless girl.
"A lot of the boys you see wrestling, they don't even want to be there," explained her dad, Kelly Sullivan, whose boys, Joe (state champion) and Kelly, Jr. (third place in state), are also fierce competitors. "If you see a girl on a wrestling mat, she wants to be there."
"I want to wrestle at the Olympics," admitted Gigi, who seems as if she were born on one, and for whom the dream of successful international competition against all humans seems an almost forgone conclusion. "I'll wrestle whoever they put in front of me."
We can't wait.
By Jay Behrke
UNION VALE, NY – Nicole Audia worked full-time at a bank, and was an active, involved mom when not at her paying job. Then – suddenly – she didn't, and she wasn't.
"We were excited for the opportunity to get the vaccine as soon as it was available," said Nicole of the shot she and her husband, Chris, received at Marist March 5.
Excitement morphed into misery as Nicole's pre-existing autoimmune [Hashimoto's] disease triggered an incredibly rare reaction, causing rampant inflammation throughout her body and persistent fevers (as high as 105.1) over a six-week period.
After being treated at Sharon, Vassar, and New York Presbyterian-Columbia over the last two months, her newest treatment has enabled her to go back home and begin recovery. But Nicole will have sustained lasting damage to her heart due to the prolonged inflammation of the sack surrounding it [Pericardia]. "While I'm grateful to be getting better, recovery for me still means I'll have this for the rest of my life."
Despite her harrowing experience, the Audias are still volubly pro-vaccine. "But please, please, somebody research autoimmune," and its part in the national response to the vaccine, stressed Nicole. "Because so many people have it, they need to figure that out so that it doesn't happen to anyone else."
Nicole's sister, Devon Navarro, a paramedic, was able to visit when no other family members could.
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