How were you affected by AIDS?

[babydollhead]

I lost many friends to AIDS. volunteered at the AIDS Task force hot line, worked on the 1st AIDS Walkathon in Pittsburgh, and saw way too many people I loved, young and beautiful, die. My friend lost her brother during the first AZT drug trials. Here is a toast to the CURE and a bow to the angels who were lost. It's been a long time coming.

[xchrom]

1. I lost my partner and all - every one - of my good close friends.

That was in my early to mid thirties.

When you are that old - you simply don't replace those people.

[Donnachaidh]

4. xchrom

:hug: :cry: :hug:

[babydollhead]

5. yes.

My friend, who has been living with HIV since 1986, sold off his life insurance policy and thought he was going to die also, and he has lived a whole other life since then, yet he carries the guilt of a survivor with him. He even wrote a book "Death Is An Impostor" with is written by him and his dead lover, Scott. It's a wonderful read, you can see it online. What I mean is, when all of your friends die, like when you are old and it happens to everybody, that's one thing. When you are still becoming more fully human yourself, death of all of your friends is a mindfuck. I hug you. We are still here.

[xchrom]

14. Agreed. I'm almost 60 now - it's been an interesting 20+ year lesson.

Traveled mostly alone.

I was never able to get involved with another partner.
B's death was particularly brutal and I didn't want to do that again.
And I was never very partner oriented to begin with.

[bobbolink]

2. Aloha to Palani Kahala, a beautiful spirit.

After a rush of excitement at the news, I kept thinking of him, and how wonderful it would be to have him back, if only the cure had been available then.

I also thought of all the names written in the score of Corligliano's first symphony. So much loss, and so many still so deeply missed.

[Donnachaidh]

3. lost a SIL and uncle to it

I think of them every day. :cry:

[BlueIris]

6. Can't claim to have been personally affected,

except for that never have lived in a world without it problem. Still happy for the latest breakthrough and hoping that it saves all the lives it can.

[Captain Cave Man]

28. Scared by it, but no losses thankfully...

My uncle was attacked by a man that was criminally insane, had AIDS, and trying to commit suicide. My uncle tried to stop him and got his ear bit for his efforts. Thankfully he didn't catch AIDS from it. The man was sent to prison for the rest of his life after the state decided that constituted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. It was my generation's Big Chill.

[madmom]

8. Lost a cousin.. :(

[w8liftinglady]

9. I was almost fired for letting a gay man's partner stay with him until he died

as the head nurse of the MICU in 1989.These men had been partners for years,and this was all the patient had who truly cared.It was years before people beyond "immediate family" were allowed to be with the patients.We haven't progressed THAT much in Texas.

[frazzled]

10. Annie Lennox says it best for me

Goodbye, Derek, and all the others we knew whose art and friendship touched us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bnKJjewcII

[Glorfindel]

11. I worked in health-care administration at the time

It seems hard to believe, but instituting "universal precautions" back then was quite controversial. Convincing everyone who came into contact with patients to wash their hands, wear gloves, and handle sharps correctly was not easy. I also lost some good friends to the disease. I have a distant cousin who is blind and has AIDS-related dementia. In many ways, those who died quickly were more fortunate than he is. If a cure is, indeed, at hand, then thank God for it. Having said that, I am still a big fan of universal precautions. There are other deadly diseases circulating.

[mulsh]

12. I worked in a clinical and forensic lab in the late 70's- early 80's.

which was located in the SF Bay Area. Since this was pre-AIDs we were all very casual with raw blood and serum samples. Some of the very first tests for Hep and HIV were developed by my coworkers. I remember one week when about 20 pathologists and immunologists from around the country inhabited our Immune lab working out rudimentary tests for HIV & Aids.
As a result of our lax ways and being right at ground zeor we workers were considered very high risk. Many of us, myself included, were tested twice a year for HIIV/AIDs for a number of years. Fortunately I never tested positive. Unfortunately at least 6 of my co-workers weren't so lucky. The most recent person died a year and a half ago.

In my personal life I stopped counting my friends and acquaintances deaths at around #56, about five years ago. Most of these people died in the first years of the AIDs epidemic. For a straight male that's kind of a lot of people to know but then I live in the bay area and during most of that time I was playing in bands and heavily involved in the local art scene.

I also did the volunteer/holding hand thing for a number of years and with a bunch of my friends. I'm glad the deaths have slowed down and the condition can be better controlled.

[hunter]

25. Yep. I got splashed with raw blood and serum a few times.

It took a long time for it to sink in that this stuff was dangerous. Those were the days when antibiotics worked and nobody knew much about viruses. Nobody in the lab wore full face protection and people would make jokes about herpes.

Later I worked in a blood bank when all our hemophilia clients were dying of AIDs. :cry:

And I lost friends too. :cry:

[Celtic Raven]

13. Lost one of my very best friends

and miss him in so many ways.

:cry:

[Wednesdays]

15. Lost at least two good college friends

at a MINIMUM (there may be many more I don't know about). Both died before they reached their 30th birthday.

One friend is in treatment, and he's doing okay, but he still has bad days. I hope he hangs on for a long time.

[alsame]

16. I lost a college friend. nt

[robcon]

17. I lost a cousin.

n/t

[AlexinVA]

18. Lost Mom in 1992

She was 34 years old.

[Tabasco_Dave]

19. Was with my uncle when he died in the hospital

he died in 1994 if he made it one more year he might have got the new medications to save his life. :-(

[nevergiveup]

20. I lost my younger brother.

He was one of the first ones back in the early 80's. He was a Lt.Colonel in the Air Force and served in Vietnam. He lived a couple of months after being diagnosed. Many nurses in the hospital were scared and would not get close to him. The nice ones would tell me what to do. Spending the last month with him was an experience from which I will never totally recover.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

21. I live in San Francisco.

I stopped counting how many I have lost over the years. :(

If this breakthrough is indeed true, then it will be time for the BIGGEST FUCKING PARTY the world has ever seen.

[lobointexas]

22. I lost my brother in 1992

He was 37. I was with him the night he passed away. I never really recovered from it. It changed my life forever.

[WolverineDG]

23. One of my friends in high school was one of the first to die

he was a good guy, smart, loved photography. :(

dg

[babydollhead]

24. My favorite teacher in High School died from AIDS

Arvid Duerr.
Have you seen the quilt? We saw it in 96, the last time it was laid out in it's entirety. The names and names and Names Matter.
Scott Gillen
Kerry Stoner
I love you and miss you.

[Missy Vixen]

26. We lost two family members. I lost countless friends.

Our uncle and his partner died within a year of each other.

I used to work for a company that did home health care for many, many AIDS patients, some of which were my former co-workers.

Finally, finally, there is a cure, but what will it take to get stem-cell implemented in the USA?

:cry:

[babydollhead]

27. kick

[Autumn]

29. My Daughters biological Father

died from AIDS. He was a heroin addict. I grieve for his wasted life,he had so much potential.

[H2O Man]

30. I first became

aware of it when a casual friend died from it. In the late 1980s, a friend asked me to serve on the board of directors of the Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) in New York State. I learned a good deal from that experience.

[donheld]

31. I saw about 50 friends and acquaintances die from it.

[Tikki]

32. I lost two friends and many I admired from afar...

C G and Donnie....RIP




Tikki