In Memory

I miss you.

Today I rode past your house. The last place we reminisced about our itinerant childhood, shared a laugh over Seinfeld, talked of fear and finally surrender. The place robbed of the most precious things of your life and yet so full of you.

Past your house, I rode on. Our work not yet done. I am surrounded by your spirit in the memories of those you touched and in the lives of those who work so tirelessly to ensure your life and those of other brothers, sisters, mothers and friends were not cut short in vain.


Your creativity and artistic eye peek out at me from my daughter, our youngest brother carries on your style, the older one and your nephew have challenged me onto roller coasters, intermediate slopes and careening down a mountain at 45 mph (motor-free). I am grateful you remain a constant in my life.

But today, I miss you.

Momentum

This week's flurry of HIV/AIDS research news took me back to the top of a long, hot climb through the Catskills. "Cure" talk contains increasingly more hopeful nuggets, even the bees are taking some credit. Things are looking up on the way to the top...

Upon arrival, your feet hit the ground long enough to wipe your brow and catch your breath. At that moment in my memory I heard the exasperated groan of my young (and exhausted) companion who had also caught a glimpse, not of the screaming downhill at our feet, but at the even higher hill to climb on the far side of it...

In the same week, the National Institute of Health (NIH) put the brakes on the largest, most recent HIV vaccine trial and sequester cuts lead to $1.6 billion in unfunded biomedical research grants, threatening to close HIV/AID research labs across the country and instantly set back progress two or more years.

"That hill? No problem," I tell my young friend, "You can pedal almost to the top on momentum alone!"  A little extra work on the downhill spin makes that uphill journey shorter and far less painful.

We may only inject a few thousand dollars at a time toward ending AIDS and easing its impact on the world but we do it every year and it always makes a difference. Emory University may receive less research funding in 2013 but the Emory Vaccine Center can count on the money we raise this month in the AIDS Vaccine 200 to keep their labs open through the downturn. Research cuts are forcing an abrupt end to the cutting-edge AIDS research by the George Mason University lab we've supported the last 4 years. Dr. Yuntao Wu's AIDS research has momentum and the $7,369 raised by last fall's Stealth Ride is seeding a grassroots effort to keep his lab open until NIH funding can be reinstated.

Thank YOU for helping to maintain the momentum necessary for the long haul journey of ending AIDS by donating a little this year, and every year, until there's a cure.

Donate to the AIDS Vaccine 200 benefiting Emory Vaccine Center.

Donate to Dr. Yuntao Wu's AIDS research at George Mason University

World AIDS Day - Bad Timing?

Many express concern that this December 1st date, falling soon after the Thanksgiving kick-off of a holly, jolly season, is an especially bad time to focus attention on a fatal pandemic. Perhaps there’s never a good time to think about AIDS.

On the DC weekend I stumbled across my first World AIDS Day observation, AIDS was the last topic I wanted to think about but the only one on my mind since my brother Bret and I had spent much of the 6 hour cross-country flight in and around the topic of how his days would end now that his fight with HIV was rapidly coming to an end. Yet even that dark World AIDS Day contained a spark of hope, flickering in the last-minute (late for our plane) urgency with which Bret filled a box with HIV/AIDS informational pamphlets to share and in the candlelight vigil we happened upon along the White House lawn.

“In 2011 there were 1.7 million AIDS-related deaths, lower than the 2.3 million in 2005.”   - Fast Facts about HIV

In the 18 years since, that spark of hope has ignited into a beacon of optimism for the 34million people infected with HIV. Even as scientists strive to contain a constantly evolving virus, prevention messages and treatment delivery methods are now customized to address varying cultural and social needs. New focus on HIV stigma now shines a light on human rights violations, like ending violence against women, that challenge individuals and countries alike to consider the worth and inherent dignity of every human being.

It’s never a good time to dwell on the grim reality of an incurable virus that’s the fourth leading cause of death worldwide but isn’t it always a good time to rejoice in the growing light of hope that can only be made possible by the tireless care, advocacy, and interest of each one of us? Please join me in living the 2012 World AIDS Day theme, "Working Together for an AIDS-Free Generation", today and everyday until that light is visible in every corner of the globe and AIDS is history.

All for One

2 passes down, 1 to go.

Wait a minute, what’s that extra little pass thrown into the morning?!  Beaver Pass - a little 2250’ bump in the road before the “real” climb over Steven's Pass. That’s precisely why this ride day is dedicated to the determination of those who pushed past every obstacle and setback through the 3rd decade in AIDS history.

Whether fighting for policy change or funding, widespread access to the latest treatments and prevention methods or trying something new when the latest idea failed to yield adequate results, it took determination to slow the number of new HIV infections and AIDS deaths in many countries. It will take an equal share of resolve to maintain and advance that trend beyond the obstacles of this decade to the next level of making AIDS history.

Here’s to all those determined to end AIDS, those who depend on them and those who cheer them on.

Red Badge of Courage

The summer of 2001 I was still a novice cyclist, preparing for my longest ride to date. Since we would cross the Continental Divide on Day 2 of the 7 day ride across Montana for HIV/AIDS vaccine research, a friend and volunteer coach (who more than earned the moniker “The General”) insisted we train by riding over Blewett Pass. It took a lot of red vines to coax me over that mountain pass under the hot, hot sun so you can bet they’ll be in my jersey pocket tomorrow whether it’s 90 degrees or a traditional Day 2 kinda day. 

Tomorrow's Day 2 ride is dedicated to the acts of courage pervasive in the second decade of AIDS in the world. Ryan White, the young hemophiliac banned from public school when diagnosed, lost his fight with AIDS in 1990. The young man had put such a human face on AIDS stigma in a time when services were so desperately needed that Congress soon after passed the Ryan White Care Act. Although it has struggled to survive numerous budget cuts, the Ryan White Care Act continues to this day to make help available to persons affected by HIV.

Princess Diana held an AIDS baby and the world watched. Then she dedicated her very public life to AIDS advocacy.

At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Mary Fisher, an HIV-positive woman, admonished her party for their negligence in the face of the growing HIV and AIDS epidemic:

“We have killed each other with our ignorance, our prejudice, and our silence. We may take refuge in our stereotypes, but we cannot hide there long, because HIV asks only one thing of those it attacks. Are you human? ” -Mary Fisher

The FDA approved several new drugs found to be helpful when combined into individually customized “drug cocktails” for those with AIDS but they offered little help to those infected with HIV but not yet showing symptoms of AIDS. I have personal experience with the heroes of this scenario. Most had cheated death once upon receiving their AIDS diagnosis so were grateful for the extra months – maybe a few years – and the quality of life improvement offered by combination drug therapy but they knew a cure was out of their reach. They offered their bodies for every possible human trial, carried pamphlets to friends and public places to advocate for safe sex and HIV testing, told their story and fought to their dying day that others could avoid their fate. My brother, Bret, was one of these heroes, as were several others whose example we seek to carry on – Peter Harding, Donald David Fehrenbach, Phil Zwickler – but theirs are only a few of the very many acts of courage in this period of AIDS history.

With gratitude to the Avert AIDS Timeline for reminding us of the many heroes fighting through the peaks and valleys to make AIDS history.