03/20/2025
This is Randy, he is a son, father, grandson, nephew, cousin, a friend, a body builder, and my brother. He was 12 years older than me and as a teenager was given some prescription medications that turned into an addiction that led to IV drug abuse. He died of AIDS Related Disease 30 years ago
I remember coming home some 42 years ago from high school to learn that my brother, who had again been sick with another pneumonia, actually had been diagnosed with Pneumocystis Jirovecii or “HIV pneumonia” over the phone, not even in person as would soon become protocol. We were all in shock because people with HIV got AIDS and died, my brother was going to die. He was prescribed AZT, which at that time was the only medication to keep the disease progression at bay, and the battle began.
And it was a battle! He was the first straight men in Portland to contract HIV at that time and he unfortunately struggled with his IV drug addiction until he was physically too sick to use any longer. But because he was a body builder he also lived for twelve years with a T-Cell count (the blood health marker at that time) of around 23-25 which was absolutely unheard of!
Then Jessi sent me this post from Cascade AIDS Project stating that with the slashings of our government, by people (an undocumented imigrant and teenagers) who know nothing about it, or what it does, research for HIV may be stopped. Research that may have kept my brother and other important people in my life longer.
Randy took the medication AZT which they dubbed AZTerrible because of the side effects. Then they came out with “the Cocktail” which was better and kept a patient healthier longer. Medical research and advances have now taken HIV from the absolute death sentence that we were given, to HIV UNDETECTABLE, meaning it is no longer detectable in their body, with a medication class called Prep, but again, only because of research.
Please call your elected officials and tell them that enough is enough! We need this research, we also need cancer and Alzheimer’s research! Please HELP!!