A close loved one of mine has been infected with HIV for over 15 years. To honor her, I've been participating in the AIDS walk for a few years. This year, I wanted to build a team of support - to frame a picture with the certificate of completion. This past Sunday, five friends joined me to make that happen. We walked 6.2 miles amongst the 30,000 others for the cause.
My loved one struggles with mattering- often neglecting her well-being until it's almost too late. It's been painful to watch someone be depressed, suffer from addictions and allow her circumstances to define the life she was leading. It leads her.
I'll never know what it's like to be infected. I do remember when I was told. I was fifteen years old. I cried. I didn't know how to process that information. Nobody was able to comfort me. So, I educated myself. I learned about the ELISA test- a diagnostic tool used to screen HIV, all of the potential opportunistic infections and watched Philadelphia repeatedly. Later on, I learned about the epidemic in the 80's and 90's about Freddie Mercury, and the many others who died/affected.
Walks like these unite the community- and is a powerful tool to transform illness by coming together to promote wellness. On a personal level, it helps someone like me to have faith in a higher power- because with all the medical advancements, my loved one has been responsive- and HIV is the least of their medical concerns.
I am proud to witness HEALING, DELIVERANCE and SURRENDER.
To my friends: Thank you soo much for your loving support- for the laughs, the silly-ness and for allowing me to be myself. I am so grateful that I'd like for us to continue to build a TEAM- to support other causes.
With Love,
Erika
My loved one struggles with mattering- often neglecting her well-being until it's almost too late. It's been painful to watch someone be depressed, suffer from addictions and allow her circumstances to define the life she was leading. It leads her.
I'll never know what it's like to be infected. I do remember when I was told. I was fifteen years old. I cried. I didn't know how to process that information. Nobody was able to comfort me. So, I educated myself. I learned about the ELISA test- a diagnostic tool used to screen HIV, all of the potential opportunistic infections and watched Philadelphia repeatedly. Later on, I learned about the epidemic in the 80's and 90's about Freddie Mercury, and the many others who died/affected.
Walks like these unite the community- and is a powerful tool to transform illness by coming together to promote wellness. On a personal level, it helps someone like me to have faith in a higher power- because with all the medical advancements, my loved one has been responsive- and HIV is the least of their medical concerns.
I am proud to witness HEALING, DELIVERANCE and SURRENDER.
To my friends: Thank you soo much for your loving support- for the laughs, the silly-ness and for allowing me to be myself. I am so grateful that I'd like for us to continue to build a TEAM- to support other causes.With Love,
Erika
I enjoy your blog very much. Never stop writing, you are extremely talented.
ReplyDelete