***Opinion pieces reflect the opinion of the writer only, and not the opinion of the newspaper staff, student body, administration or school faculty.***

     Two weeks ago, a handsome, dashing rogue nearly died on school grounds. That stunning individual was in fact me. And while handsome may have been a lie, the near-death experience was not.

     During class on Sept. 2, I broke into a seizure. This seizure was caused by a mix of low CO2 levels, as well as COVID-19. This caused much of my body to lose its function momentarily and caused a surge of numbness to spread through my body and up to my head. If no one had helped out and pointed out something was wrong, my brain would have shut down a minute later.

     The experience in itself was terrifying, even after the seizure. COVID had numerous effects on my body while I had it, and there were many days where my body would start spazzing out or I’d lose all color and not be able to breathe. As well, Covid had completely disabled my legs, taking away my ability to walk for almost a week.

     Even though COVID has been removed from my system, I still face many lingering issues. I have to go through physical therapy due to a definite weakness in my legs, and inability to walk backward. As well, my lungs and liver have both been weakened and will take weeks to fully be back at full strength.

     After this experience I learned something very important: COVID is still a very real issue within the school. Both students and faculty are catching the virus every day, and it’s only getting worse. This became my situation, and it almost killed me. The next student may not be so lucky. 

     This doesn’t mean that the school should be shut down, or that everyone should be forced to wear masks. However, if a student is in a crowded hallway or area, popping on a mask wouldn’t hurt. Because on a scale of 10, I’d give COVID a solid zero.