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Small Piece of Christmas Past Is Removed From Girl’s Lung

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Associated Press

Tracy McIntyre will breathe more comfortably this holiday season now that a one-inch sprig of fir tree is gone from her right lung.

And the 16-year-old won’t inhale too deeply around Christmas trees. Her family believes she ingested the bit of Yule decorations as a toddler.

“I’m probably going to stay pretty far away from it,” Tracy said of this year’s tree. “Don’t want to take any chances.”

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Not only did the sprig remain in Tracy’s lung for 15 years, said her surgeon, Dr. Isam Felahy, it also stayed green.

Since Christmas 1980, when the 18-month-old Tracy suffered a choking fit near the tree, she has had shortness of breath, coughing fits and bad breath.

“Since I was 2 years old, I’ve been called ‘dragon breath,’ ” Tracy said.

Finally her parents, Vicki and Mike McIntyre, took her to the doctor.

Felahy thought Tracy had a birth defect until Monday’s operation, when he removed damaged tissue and found a cavity. Inside was the sprig, green as ever.

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In the recovery room, nurses grilled Tracy: “Have you been eating Christmas trees lately?”

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