Award-winner stopped at nothing to earn college degree

It takes a lot to impress Marlo Britton.

A case manager for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's Bureau of Workforce Development, Britton said she has never seen anyone as determined as Cecil Rhodes. And that's saying something, because Britton's mother raised 13 children.

Rhodes, 43, of Champaign, formerly of Rantoul, has refused to let losing his job at the Collins & Aikman plant in Rantoul two years ago, diabetes, several eye operations and the amputations of his toes and a part of a leg keep him from getting a college degree. And he's done it with honors.

"Cecil (is) one of my icons," said Britton, a Rantoul resident. "Cecil had the determination I've never witnessed. He is one of my success stories."

Rhodes was honored for that grit with an award at the annual Illinois Workforce Development Awards banquet and ceremony last week in Springfield.

Rhodes worked for more than seven years as a shipping and receiving clerk at the Collins & Aikman plant, but he lost his job in May 2007. As a result, he was enrolled in the Local Workforce Investment Area Dislocated Worker Program.

The program paid for Rhodes' books and tuition to attend college. Rhodes enrolled at Parkland College in the fall of 2007 with a goal of earning an associate degree in business management.

Britton said she believes the stress of losing his job and enrolling in college contributed to Rhodes' diabetes worsening. Before he began school, he had to have a toe amputated due to an infection. The infection spread, and his doctor later told him part of his left foot would have to be amputated.

Before being admitted to the hospital, Rhodes consulted with his instructors and department chairs and was able to convert all of his classes to online classes for the remainder of the semester.

He completed that semester with honors and made the dean's list.

Rhodes said he continued to get sicker as the semester progressed. "They did a full check and they found out that my right foot was infected," Rhodes said. "They started out by just amputating part of the toes. Then they started giving me a lot of antibiotics."

After each procedure, Rhodes' doctors, Britton and Parkland staff suggested that Rhodes take time out to heal. But he was having none of it.

After the surgery on the right foot, he completed his classes online, from his hospital bed.

"What's astounding about him is he made the dean's list," Britton said. "I was thinking, 'OK, he's had his food amputated.'"

Britton was prepared to submit an exemption to allow Rhodes to remain eligible to have his school paid for once he resumed his work at Parkland, but Rhodes said he wanted to remain in school.

"He was very determined," Britton said.

"I was afraid that missing classes would drop my grade," said Rhodes, who credited his dean and Parkland teachers for allowing him to make up work he had missed.

Professor Neil Archer, who taught an English 101 class in which Rhodes enrolled, remembers the dramatic improvement Rhodes made in the class.

Rhodes was behind, academically, when he started the class, Archer said, "but he used every resource available. He took all of his papers to the writing lab repeatedly, and he improved (his writing) dramatically."

At the beginning of the class, Archer questioned whether Rhodes would be able to pass, but he finished with a high grade.

Archer cited Rhodes' humility and how seriously he took the topics discussed in class. "His thoughts were very mature and thoughtful, and I liked having him in class," Archer said. "He was just a very sweet guy."

Rhodes began a regimen of getting up at 5 a.m. each week day, traveling to the Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System for treatment, driving to Parkland College for classes, then back to the Danville VA for three to four more hours of treatment. The four-year Army veteran would arrive home about 7 p.m. each day and would still have to do homework.

The next morning the schedule started all over again. He was in class five days a week, but his treatments took place seven days a week.

Doctors found the antibiotics, however, were not having the desired effect.

"The part that killed me about that was I thought everything was going well with the treatments," Rhodes said. "I was feeling better."

Doctors found a severe bone infection had traveled up to his ankle. A specialist in Indianapolis suggested an amputation below the knee.

Rhodes agreed to the amputation in April.

He has not had to have any more amputations since then, but because of his diabetes he has to have regular eye operations due to blood vessels leaking fluid.

Britton looked on proudly as Rhodes was able to walk across the stage and receive his diploma in the spring.

Rhodes has a prosthetic foot, and is in the process of learning to walk. "I've been in a wheelchair, on crutches, the whole 9 yards," he said.

Rhodes said his wife, Vanessa, to whom he has been married for 9½ years, has been "extremely supportive. I couldn't have done it without her."

Vanessa Rhodes, who worked at Collins & Aikman for 14 years before losing her job, took classes through the same Workforce Development program. Like her husband, she majored in business management and graduated with honors. And like Cecil, she is looking for a job.

He is now taking online classes to attain a bachelor's degree in business management from Eastern Illinois University.

Asked what makes him so determined, Rhodes said, "I always remember what my mother told me, 'The Lord blesses those who do right and keep faith.'"

He said he tries to live by a simple philosophy: "Take things one day at a time."

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