Student

Corinne DiGiaimo

Austin, Texas native Corinne Isabella DiGiaimo is a 20-year-old Merchandise Product Development Student at FIDM in Los Angeles and the editor of FIDM MODE magazine. After years of unexplained health challenges, the aspiring fashion entrepreneur and former Wilhelmina model was diagnosed with Lyme disease in June of 2016. "It took four years for me to be diagnosed," Corinne explains. "In the beginning, my body slowly started to have issues, but as time went on, the illness progressed quickly and we weren’t sure what to do." After suffering bouts of serious pain and weakness, the disease began to spread to her brain, eyes, and spinal cord, resulting in severe memory issues and intense muscle and joint pain. "I forgot most of my childhood," she says, "and if I didn’t see my sisters because they were busy with school, I would forget that I even had sisters. Sometimes I couldn’t remember my own name, or I would look at my parents and not even recognize them."

When Corinne began to have aggressive seizures, she lost her independence and had to rely on others to take care of her, as well as a wheelchair to get around. "This all affected my time at FIDM because I had to defer my acceptance by a year in order to restore my health," she adds. "I wanted to make sure I was good and healthy before I started school because this is my dream school. The dream of going to FIDM gave me inspiration every day when I had hard days of treatment." Corinne finally started her FIDM career in October of 2017, but she still has memory issues that require her to work harder than her classmates. She also flies out to Arizona each week to have a checkup to make sure she is healthy. Corinne, who was the founder and president of the FIDM Fashion Club at Vandegrift High School, plans to share her story and inspire others via motivational speaking. 

Categories:  Student