ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Brryan Jackson has been left out of birthday party invitations and asked not to use water fountains.
His daily routine at one point included 23 pills, three IV medications and two injections. But the toughest part of growing up with AIDS for him might be knowing how he got it.
When he was a baby, his father entered his hospital room and injected a syringe of HIV-tainted blood into his tiny body. At times during his childhood, he was expected to die.
Now 18, he will put on his black cap and gown today and graduate from Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, near St. Louis.
Shielded from the public for much of his life since his father’s high-profile criminal trial a decade ago, Jackson is now an outspoken advocate for people with AIDS, and the power of faith and forgiveness.
“I expect to break the barriers between what people think this virus is and what it really is,” Jackson said Thursday during an interview at his home. “I hope to eliminate a lot of ignorance and change people’s minds.”
Jackson’s mother, Jennifer, and his father, Brian Stewart, were together for about two years, off and on, in the early 1990s. After Jennifer Jackson became pregnant and had the child, Stewart denied he was the father. Paternity tests proved he was.
Stewart worked at a St. Louis hospital as a phlebotomist — his job was drawing blood from patients.
In 1992, Brryan was 11 months old when he was hospitalized with asthma. Stewart came to Brryan’s hospital room, waited until he was alone and injected the boy with HIV-tainted blood, prosecutors said.
The defense contended the boy could have been infected other ways, perhaps from a medical procedure. But prosecutors argued that Stewart wanted the family out of his life and didn’t want to pay child support.
At trial in 1998, Stewart was convicted of first-degree assault and received the maximum sentence, life in prison.
Jackson has not been in contact with Stewart but said he has forgiven him. “God wants us to forgive people,” he said. “Am I going to make myself as low as he is? . . . I’ve got to be the better person.”
With improvements in AIDS treatment, Jackson is down to just five medications these days. He said at his last doctor’s visit, they didn’t draw blood because he has overall been in good health.
He plans to eventually go to college and hopes one day to go into politics, but for the upcoming months, he’ll spend his time advocating for others with AIDS.
Jackson has started a nonprofit called Hope Is Vital. He will work this summer with Project Kindle, a Valencia, Calif.-based organization that sponsors summer camps for children affected by the disease.
