Candlelight vigil held for World AIDS Day
A candlelight vigil was held yesterday by South Arkansas Fights AIDS to commemorate World AIDS Day and honor of those who have suffered from HIV or AIDS.
World AIDS Day is held on the first of December and is a global event. It was named to draw attention to the current status of HIV/ AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) said Janet Beane, executive director of SAFA.
Last night’s event was a small ceremony held in the chapel at First United Methodist Church. Pastor David Bush shared a message, first reading from 1 Corinthians 13. The verse focuses on love.
“Love never fails,” Bush said. He then spoke about serving at the Community Rescue Mission in Fort Smith, where he met a man named Randy who died from AIDS.
Bush said Randy’s church refused to hold a service after his death, so he performed the service at the rescue mission.
“So much ignorance,” Bush said. Beane then started the candle lighting ceremony. She invited attendees to light candles for friends or family that were living with or who had passed away from HIV or AIDS.
Two of the people in attendance were Vicky DeLone and her mother, Sue Worsham. Sue Worsham originally founded SAFA in 1990 after her son, Freddy, passed away from AIDS.
“It was sad to lose a brother, sad to lose a son,” DeLone said. “Before his death, my mom kept asking what she could do.”
Freddy died at 34 years old from AIDS. The disease was transmit- ted to him sexually. DeLone said Freddy told their mother to educate people about HIV and AIDS, as they are preventable diseases. “So she did,” DeLone said.
Sue Worsham went back to college to learn about computers and how to write grants. She started trying to educate the community about HIV/AIDS and spread prevention methods into common knowledge.
“She just really kind of lectured out of the back of the truck,” DeLone said.
DeLone said Freddy had lived in San Francisco and Dallas for several years before returning home in 1987. She said the family could tell something was wrong, but he never brought it up.
Eventually DeLone asked him, and Freddy admitted to her that
he was dying of AIDS. She said he was afraid to tell their parents, worried about how they would react. They didn’t even know that he was gay yet.
“At that point, once family found out … they’d abandon you,” DeLone said. “Back then, people didn’t really talk about it. Nobody really knew what it was like to have someone in your home who had HIV/AIDS.”
However, Sue and Fred Worsham, their parents, did not abandon their son. They helped with his treatment and supported him throughout the next year until his death in 1988.
“[Mom] said we were going to do whatever [we could],” DeLone said. “[Dad] handled it like a champ.”
Sue Worsham has since developed dementia, leaving SAFA in the hands of Beane. DeLone still serves on the board of the organization, an original member.
“I think successful is an understatement as far as what SAFA has brought to this community,” DeLone said.
SAFA’s mission is to provide free, oral HIV testing, HIV prevention education programs and direct services to those infected and/or affected by the disease. Results from HIV tests are ready within 20 minutes.
As of October, SAFA has served over 774 people. Valerie Cook is one of those people. Diagnosed with HIV in 1997, she has lived with the disease for over 20 years.
Cook contracted the virus through a sexual partner, who she said knew he was infected and hid it from her. She said he also infected two other women.
“It really sent me into a loop. I really thought I’d been given a death sentence because I wasn’t educated,” Cook said. “It was devastating.”
When she was first diagnosed, Cook faced discrimination almost immediately. She told her work supervisor, who she then noticed stopped eating in the common cafeteria they shared.
“It makes you feel like an awful person,” Cook said. “Really, really bad. … It makes you feel like an outcast.”
To stay healthy, Cook takes an anti-retroviral drug which costs about $10,000 a month. She is able to pay that high price with help from the Ryan White Program through the Arkansas Department of Health.
Ryan White gained fame in the 1980’s when he was not re-admitted to school after a diagnosis of AIDS. White, a hemophiliac, contracted the disease from a contaminated blood transfusion. White’s ordeal inspired other heterosexual people with HIV/AIDS to tell their stories and helped to reduce the stigma of the disease.
Now, Cook is 60 years old. She is a motivational speaker for SAFA and gives educational talks about preventing HIV/AIDS. She said she encourages children to practice abstinence until they find the right person, someone they can trust.
“I wouldn’t wish this disease on my worst enemy,” Cook said.
Beane said the candle lighting ceremony was an opportunity to reflect as well as continue educating the public. She said HIV/AIDS is nothing for the public to be afraid of.
“[People with HIV/AIDS] aren’t going to hurt them. People don’t accidentally get HIV unless they’re born with it, are raped, or a spouse brings it home to their partner,” Beane said. “They’re just people.”
For more information about SAFA, visit their headquarters at 526 W. Faulkner St. or call their office at 870-875-2099.