GMU Student Who Beat Disease Wins Ford Video Contest, New Car

Fairfax resident and George Mason University student Justine Ferrari, 20, says she is "obsessed" with her new Ford Fusion and all it can do, from parallel parking itself to beeping if she's about to hit something.

It's not just any new car. Ferrari drove it home Monday after winning a contest sponsored by Ford for a video she created last year (click on the video above to watch her entry). 

She not only beat 2,000 other entries when she won, but the experience paralleled a life-changing operation she had last summer that helped her overcome a disease. The surgery helped her walk again, after she became wheelchair-bound at age 14 when she was diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). The disease often left her so weak that if she stood for too long, she might pass out.

Ferrari (the irony isn't lost on her: 'Ferrari wins a Ford!' she exclaims during a conversation with Patch) talked about how she won Ford’s Fusion Energi Adventure video contest, along with her recovery from POTS after surgery last summer.

"August of last year, I made a video for Ford's contest," she recounted Monday afternoon. "They wanted a video, describing a road trip you would take if you won."

Since the Fusion gets 620 miles on a tank of gas, according to the company, those entering the contest were asked to describe a 620-mile road trip. "I used chalk on my driveway to map out the trip I would take," Justine said. "I talked about myself and my story. I wanted to go to California."

Justine, who will be 21 in two weeks, had battled the POTS disease the past six years; it took over her life in 2007 up until last year. Formerly a competitive swimmer shooting for the Olympics (she was ranked 77th in the country), she was used to an active lifestyle, getting up early and spending lots of time during her summers practicing her strokes at the pool, she said.

But her athleticism was replaced with exhaustion after she was diagnosed with POTS and was limited to a wheelchair. With help from her family (especially her stay-at-home Dad, she said), friends and school, she was able to complete high school (she missed 53 full days of school her freshman year at Chantilly High School, she said). 

Shortly after entering Ford's Fusion Energi Adventure, she received the surgery that has allowed her to walk again and have the kind of energy she used to have, she said.

"It was August of last year that I got the surgery and I was up and walking the next day, while the contest was going on," she said. She was one of the first people to undergo the surgery, performed in Maryland by a neurosurgeon.

After entering the contest, having successful surgery, and winning several rounds of the contest, she found out she won the whole shebang in November. That meant a free flight to California, a road trip along the California coast and a brand-new car, all courtesy of Ford.

"It was crazy, it was an amazing opportunity," she said. "All of my friends got involved in voting." The contest was also judged by the video's creativity and camera presence. After winning, Justine and her sister were flown by Ford, in January, out to California for the road trip. They went surfing at Laguna Beach.

Today, Justine is double majoring in Marketing and Advertising as a student at GMU, where she is on the executive council of her sorority, Alpha Xi Delta. She'll turn 21 in two weeks.

She picked up her very own 2014 Ford Fusion at Ted Britt Ford Chantilly Monday morning. (She was able to customize it and after 10 weeks, it arrived.)

She loves the safety features and gas mileage, she said. "It's gorgeous," she said, "and I'm obsessed with it."