Sorry to hear that MrGee...no words can really express the heartache involved

I have a friend who has come to terms with her struggle with the AIDS virus.
She has stopped being angry and now is very sick again, I hope for the sake of her children she makes it through the winter and gets better.

I lost two women who were like aunts to me, and I know about 6 people who have died. I know atleast 4 more that are living with this illness.

I used to be an AIDS worker for 15 yrs in the beginnings of the disease starting in 1989. I have 3 brothers, 3 nephews, countless cousins and freinds who have died. I know of some gay prostitues who were on the club scene with me in the late 1980's-1990's who are still on the street tricking like the are healthy when they are not.

I am so numb from the disease that I can't and don't even cry anymore. So see the personal suffering up close is not pretty. You know how you see those kids and people in Africa staving and sick?? Well I have taken care of folks like that. It is the most helpless feeling in the world.

I have only had one female cousin to die the rest have been male gay and bi-sexual, not that it matters. Becasue I was wild in my day and I could have easliy gotten it but I didn't.

In the Black community it is still not openly talked about at all!!! You go to the funerals and they say, cancer, leukemia, stuff like that.

ehuffnsd said:

Maybe not, Eric. Continue to take care of yourself and who knows? You might sooner be eaten by a bear.

ehuffnsd said:

ehuffnsd said:

uhhhmmm, not no more. ...





yea, i'm morbid today.


i am sorry to hear of those that lost loved ones tho, I lost tons of friends back in the 80's but aids seems almost obsolete with all the meds and stuff now.

Lammastide said:

I know two people that have AIDS that live now with the disease for 15+ years and going strong.

.
[b][Edited 1/16/09 17:37pm]

Lammastide said:

you sound like my grandma

Freddy Mercury

rachel3 said:

Not yet

I have one of best good friends who is still alive after being diagnosed in 1985!!!!!

I don't know how he keeps going, he is emaciated, but still works and goes river rafting.

He smokes copious amounts of pot, and I'm now wondering if this has helped him somehow.

MRGee said:

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.

paintedlady said:

i should live to be at least 50 something so the org has at least another 30 years of me.

i think it should be cleared up for those misunderstanding.

you die from AIDS

you dont die from HIV

HIV causes AIDS

horatio said:

you die from a disease your body otherwise would fight off not AIDS

ehuffnsd said:

You don't know that. There a million ways to die . . .

I heard of thru a family member once that I had a second cousin that everyone knew were gay as a youth but no one ever talked about it or acknowledged it. I never met him. He died when I was a teen in the 80's of a condition that was never talked about. Those close to him kept it quiet but people who remembered him always knew. Even though it was not spoke about. AIDS led to the reason he died. So many people have died of AIDS like that in the past. It makes his death even more sorrowful. I always remember his memory. Because he lived. He existed. He was someone. I don't think it is right to ever forget him. I've never known someone personally. That has died of AIDS but I feel close to the issue.

i think we all know of someone.

ehuffnsd said:

I guess that's what my uncle is too. Have hope. He's in his 60s and has had HIV for like 25 years or something crazy like that. He gets a real bad illness every once a while, but other than that, he's usually fine. His boyfriend died of AIDs right after it was first coming out in the news.

dustysgirl said:

i'm not worried.

no, but i really feel for those who have lost loved ones and friends from this!
[Edited 1/16/09 19:43pm]

My cousin died of AIDS in 1995. He was 35 years old.

I have a close friend who may have AIDS....he never talked to me
about it, because I think he didn't want me to worry...but I suspect
he may have it, and it devastates me either way...meaning, whether I
actually know, or whether I just suspect...so he may as well just tell me.
Thinking about it and not knowing is almost worse than knowing.

ZombieKitten said:

I forgot about her and "the bear."

I realize this is a touchy feely thread, but as a person living with HIV from the days before the treatments we have now, I need ya'll to remember that people don't die of AIDS, they die from complications due to AIDS.

Yes. A cousin who was a drug addict.

Alot of people who I worked with in the music/ Dj industry. So sad to see all your friends disappear.

IAintTheOne said:

Disappear?

They've died.