Saying "Hello" to A Goodbye, By Danielle Hill, ENGL

         People often face many obstacles in life, whether it is dealing with a tragedy, a loss, an illness, or being stressed out. It is sometimes hard to overcome these obstacles especially when it comes to losing someone so close to you. Brittany Alvarez has overcame her trials and tribulations after the death of a older sibling who she recently found out about.
         Brittany Alvarez 20, born in Baltimore, Md, is a junior at Frostburg State University, with a major in Mass Communications and a minor in Journalism. Her parents separated at age seven, with her father living in Baltimore, Md and mother living in Severn, Md.  Alvarez is a writer for the sports section of the Frostburg State school newspaper, The Bottom Line, and hopes to become a writer  for a newspaper or magazine in the near future. Alvarez includes, "I would love to have my own TV show." Great accomplishments come with hardships and obstacles are faced along the way.
         Roughly at the age of 10, Brittany discovered that she had an older half-brother named, Juan Alvarez.  Ecstatically Brittany says, "I have an older brother!" Juan was a child from her father's previous marriage during the 70s. Juan and Brittany were 15 years apart from one another. She then met Juan for the first time at the age of 11. They started getting in contact with each other more often and that's where it began. Juan then came to Baltimore from Tennessee to visit her and stayed for a week. Excitedly she says, "We went to the zoo...one of the happiest days of my life." As they spent more time together, their bond grew tighter and instantly, they became best friends. When Juan returned to Tennessee, he and Brittany kept in contact.
        At that moment all seemed well in Brittany's life until she received a nerve wrecking phone call on Thanksgiving Day. At this time, she was in the 9th grade in high school. Brittany describes the phone call, "It was a woman crying asking to speak with my father," it was about Juan. Juan, an arborist, had been in an accident. Apparently, a tree fell and penetrated his lungs and he had been in critical condition. Brittany's father flew to the hospital the same day. Juan needed a blood transfusion and their father was going to do whatever it took to save his son's life. There's a twist to this story, Juan's side of the family, including his mother, were Jehovah's witnesses and would not allow their father to give him a blood transfusion. Although Juan had a son and a family of his own, it was of his mother's interest to make the final decision whether or not to allow the transfusion or to let Juan take his last breaths at the hospital. Brittany expresses, "I felt like if I called him for those five to twenty-five minutes, that it could've changed the series of events that led to his death," she continues, "I believe in the butterfly effect."
       With the loss of her brother, Brittany has anger towards Juan's side of the family because they did not allow her father to save his life with a blood transfusion. She includes, "I've never really been able to get over it."  In this case, Juan's family chose religion over science and did not save his life. Because of this decision, Brittany is now agnostic.
        Losing a loved one is never easy, but Brittany Alvarez has continued to live her life and follows her dreams.