Brian Fiore wore a gold crown and a T-shirt with the names of 28 friends who died from AIDS – “before the drugs,” he says.
Some held Fiore’s hand as they took their last breath. Every death, he says, was hard to watch.
But Fiore is a survivor.
At 58, he lives with HIV in a period he calls “after the drugs.”
“Then there was hope,” Fiore said. With the new treatment and new hope have come more survivors.
People live longer, fuller lives despite having HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
That’s become its own problem, Fiore says. As fear of the killer disease that still has no cure fades, especially among young people, the fire behind the AIDS movement flickers.
“Survivors like me make it seem like HIV is over,” Fiore says. “There still is no cure.”
So, Fiore joined 8,000 walkers Sunday at Cheesman Park for the 5-kilometer AIDS Walk Colorado. The event, Colorado’s biggest AIDS fundraiser, raised about $800,000, matching last year’s total.
The money benefits the Colorado AIDS Project and 30 other organizations that work with people living with HIV and AIDS.
As bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” signaled the start of the day, walkers wearing red AIDS ribbons, festive costumes and carrying balloons hit the path. Many carried banners and pictures of lost loved ones.
Phil Wade, who also has HIV, said that after 15 walks, he couldn’t imagine skipping out this year – even though he’s having open-heart surgery in a few days. “I feel very lucky I’ve been able to keep myself alive,” Wade said, out of breath on his way to the starting line.
While the new AIDS drugs – such as antiretroviral medications – are extending lives, they also make the disease appear less threatening, Wade said, and that is leading young people to drop their guard and take more risks.
“It’s a different ballgame because people are dying quietly. It hides the devastation,” Wade said. “I mean, I look pretty good for 56, don’t I?”
Better treatments resulted in a decrease in AIDS deaths starting in the 1990s, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the CDC estimates that 40,000 people in the United States become infected with HIV every year.
And the infection trends are changing. Women make up a growing share of the country’s AIDS diagnoses. The rate went from 8 percent in 1985 to 27 percent in 2003, the CDC states.
Shannon Behning founded the Women’s Lighthouse Project, which offers support for women with HIV, after she was diagnosed in 1992 with the virus that causes AIDS, and had trouble finding help.
“The first thing I tell them is ‘I’ve been HIV positive for 14 years and I’m still here,”‘ she said Sunday. “It gives them hope.”
Not only that, but Behning said she is getting married in 13 days – to a man who is not infected. “I never thought I would get married,” the 40-year-old said. “He’s my miracle.”
The key is education, Behning said, and safe sex. “It’s encouraging for other women to see you can really live.”
While the walk celebrated life, participants such as Behning and Wade said surviving also brought a responsibility. Along the way, Wade, a former teacher, met a colleague he worked with in the Denver Public Schools system and told him about his upcoming heart surgery. “He told me living is always the harder choice. He’s right. Living is always harder than dying.”
Staff writer Abbe Smith can be reached at 303-820-1201 or asmith@denverpost.com.
8,000 walkers Sunday at Cheesman Park for the 5-kilometer AIDS Walk Colorado
$800,000 raised at the event, Colorado’s biggest AIDS fundraiser
14,666 people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Colorado as of Sept. 30
