Ariana Medrano: 14-year-old dies from a brain-eating Amoeba

Summary: According to thins article, 14-year-old, Micheal John Riley Jr. had attended his cross country swimming meet at Sam Houston State Park. A few days later his parents got worried because their energetic son suddenly started having headaches and didn't want to do any physical activities. The family had found out that Micheal John Riley Jr. had came in contact with the rare Naegleria Fowleri amoeba by swimming in warm infected water. Within days the teens headache took for the worse, he had lost function in his brain, leaving Micheal John Riley Jr. dead. 

Analysis: Micheal John Riley Jr. was a healthy energetic teen about to go into high school, about to start his life basically, when he died from a parasite. He wasn't even worried about getting infected with a parasite, all he was doing at the time he got infected, was doing what he loved, swimming. To think that life is short and that we could die or get infected with some sort of illness at any point in our life is quite terrifying. You could be the most healthiest person out there but, dive into a pool of warm infected water and you could end up like Micheal John Riley Jr. I think it must have been hard on the parents to see their only child die. There have been several cases of this amoeba and most of them took place in Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Arizona and California. In the past 53 years there have been 133 cases and of those cases only three survived. Last summer 9-year-old Hally Yust died of the same parasite as Micheal. Her, herself, loved to be in water just like Micheal did. 

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/31/health/brain-eating-amoeba-deaths/