It's that time again.
You probably read this story last year. It hasn't changed. Neil and Corey are still dead, and we still don't have a cure for AIDS. Please, read it again and give if you can.
In 1991, my first year after law school, while I was working as a judicial clerk in Olympia, Washington, my friend Sylvia in the Bay Area mentioned that a mutual friend of ours had suddenly gone blind. Corey was a fabulous gay man with biting wit who worked on the costuming team for Beach Blanket Babylon, and he was the partner of another friend, Neil, with whom Sylvia and I had gone to college. This eye problem was very strange, Sylvia said, but he was young and surely this was only temporary...
I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I had a sinking feeling she was wrong.
Corey had CMV retinitis, caused by full-blown AIDS. His vision never came back. Within the next year we saw him decline, this young, vibrant man, into the muttered paranoia of AIDS dementia.
Neil nursed him through the end of his life. Neil seemed physically okay at the time, but we lost him to AIDS complications a few years later.
I'm so very lucky. Neil and Corey are my only real-life friends (that I know of) who've died from AIDS. I have at least one other friend living with HIV, but as far as I know he's doing well thanks to treatment advances and access to good medical care.
Not everyone has those advantages. We're all tired of hearing about AIDS; we'd all like to be able to focus on something else--cancer or heart disease or global warming or so many other important issues! And yet, every year I think about Neil and Corey and the people still living with HIV who are struggling to get medicine or dental care or enough food, and I fire up my e-mail and I ask you to please sponsor me for AIDS Walk LA.
My fundraising page is here, and any amounts you donate there will be matched dollar for dollar by my employer. This is a great opportunity for your money to go twice as far.
Please think about whether you might be able to spare a few (or more than a few) dollars. If you can't afford to sponsor me, maybe you could pass the link to my fundraising page along to your friends, family, or co-workers. As always, thank you for your time and for your support.
In 1991, my first year after law school, while I was working as a judicial clerk in Olympia, Washington, my friend Sylvia in the Bay Area mentioned that a mutual friend of ours had suddenly gone blind. Corey was a fabulous gay man with biting wit who worked on the costuming team for Beach Blanket Babylon, and he was the partner of another friend, Neil, with whom Sylvia and I had gone to college. This eye problem was very strange, Sylvia said, but he was young and surely this was only temporary...
I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I had a sinking feeling she was wrong.
Corey had CMV retinitis, caused by full-blown AIDS. His vision never came back. Within the next year we saw him decline, this young, vibrant man, into the muttered paranoia of AIDS dementia.
Neil nursed him through the end of his life. Neil seemed physically okay at the time, but we lost him to AIDS complications a few years later.
I'm so very lucky. Neil and Corey are my only real-life friends (that I know of) who've died from AIDS. I have at least one other friend living with HIV, but as far as I know he's doing well thanks to treatment advances and access to good medical care.
Not everyone has those advantages. We're all tired of hearing about AIDS; we'd all like to be able to focus on something else--cancer or heart disease or global warming or so many other important issues! And yet, every year I think about Neil and Corey and the people still living with HIV who are struggling to get medicine or dental care or enough food, and I fire up my e-mail and I ask you to please sponsor me for AIDS Walk LA.
My fundraising page is here, and any amounts you donate there will be matched dollar for dollar by my employer. This is a great opportunity for your money to go twice as far.
Please think about whether you might be able to spare a few (or more than a few) dollars. If you can't afford to sponsor me, maybe you could pass the link to my fundraising page along to your friends, family, or co-workers. As always, thank you for your time and for your support.