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Opinion

A student’s personal story, plea for people to get flu shot

Spring Break month is here, another popular travel holiday. As a student preparing to journey to gather with friends or home to see loved ones, it is important to get a flu shot beforehand. I would like to share a personal story on why I advocate for doing so. Ten years ago this past December, influenza almost claimed the life of my then five-year-old sister, Caroline. A few days before winter break 2012, Caroline came home from school with mild cold symptoms. Within a few hours, Caroline’s symptoms worsened, and breathing became more difficult. In the middle of the night, my parents took her to the local hospital where she was diagnosed with influenza A and double pneumonia. She was given oxygen to help with her breathing. This hospital staff felt they were not equipped to deal with this severe pediatric case, and Caroline was transferred to a larger local hospital. Her symptoms worsened at the second hospital, and she slipped into accurate respiratory distress syndrome. She was intubated, and the hospital informed my parents that nothing more could be done for her. She was then airlifted via helicopter to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and placed on an oscillating ventilator. She remained intubated and on a ventilator for nearly two weeks.

The Shaky Alliance

There’s been a real concern lately about China sending lethal weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine. It’s quite possible that will happen, although the United States is threatening sanctions against any government daring to supply such aid. One wonders, however, how rigorous such sanctions would be against a country supplying us with most of our medical supplies and a good chunk of our rare earth minerals. We are still far too dependent on China for a host of items to be rigorous in enforcing embargoes. There is another reason, however, why China might be hesitant to shower Russia with guns, ammo, and missiles. Although they are allied with Russia against the United States, their communist ideology does not bind them into an eternal friendship with one another. They have, in fact, fought wars against each other, and the reasons for those wars still exist.

Quinta Mazatlán, McAllen ISD plant city’s first Tiny Forest

Special to the Advance McALLEN — In McAllen, Cathey Middle School received the city’s first Tiny Forest, a miniature forest- planting method developed by the late Japanese botanist, Dr. Miyawaki. The City of McAllen partnered with M.I.S.D. and planted over 2,000 native plants representing 35 native species as a two-part initiative to improve the environment and educational opportunities for students.

Poor frog wasn’t all that bright

Our backyard is turning into a pet cemetery. Well, actually, not a cemetery, per se, since I didn’t personally know the two recently departed wildlife, and so wouldn’t fork over the money for two proper funeral plots. Why pay for two headstones unless you know them on a personal level? Actually, I disposed of them – the bird and the frog -- in the garbage, wrapped in plastic, as opposed to calling in the undertaker or digging a grave myself, but I had to discard of their bodies, just the same.

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