-10
Today I found out that a family I know is going through a very hard time. Their youngest son, who is about 10, was sick this past week with strep. When he didn't get better, they took him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with leukemia and suffered a stroke. He is now brain-dead. All of this happened last night. The family is waiting for their relatives to fly in so that they can take him off life support.
My family is closely intertwined with theirs in many ways. We are on swim team with them in the summer, I took tennis and am now in Drama with their older daughter, my brother goes to school with their other daughter, our moms are good friends. This event makes me sad in many ways: firstly, because Dominic was such a cheerful, talented child; second, because I care about the rest of his family and know this will have an awful impact on them; and last, because if he can die, no one around me is safe. I know, of course, that anyone can die at any time for any number of reasons, but this brings it home with more force.
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"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind..."