It does!! This whole flu…Influenza A…Influenza B…people dying from it…children dying from it.

I have a child with special needs. Is he medically fragile? Technically no…but also yes!! He has a weaker immune system due to his Cerebral Palsy. He catches literally EVERYTHING that goes around!! He’s also in mainstream school!

Protecting him at home is a breeze!! We wash our hands…we sanitize! We clean constantly!! But once he leaves our house it’s out of my control!!

Kid on the bus sneezes…Grant catches it! Kid in his class wipes his nose then helps Grant…he catches it!! And it scares the crap out of me!!

How quickly he can catch something that turns into pneumonia is scary fast!! And for kiddos like Grant on a normal, good day it would be so challenging for him to bounce back from pneumonia. But with the nasty flu season there could be no bouncing back!

So please…PLEASE!!!! If your child shows any signs that might be the flu…KEEP THEM HOME!! If they have a fever, don’t send them to school! They threw up the night before…don’t send them to school! And keep them home until they are 24 hours fever or symptom free. I know it’s hard. I know it might mean you have to take a day off of work. But to me and my family…it means the possibility of life and death for my son it means this awesome, amazing, ornery smile could be gone in a heartbeat!!

Moral of the story: please keep your sick kids home and cover your mouth and wash your hands because my son is my life!!

Have a blessed day!!