I
just
got
done
reading
your
story
in the
Wisconsin
State
Journal,
and
I just
wanted
to pass
along
a word
of thanks.
Thanks
for
being
who
you
are,
and
thank
you
for
surviving
21 years.
I do
not
have,
nor
have
I ever
personally
known
anyone
with
HIV
or AIDS.
However,
after
reading
your
story,
I feel
a little
more
connected
to the
issue.
I just
wanted
to drop
you
a line
and
tell
you
what
you
story
meant
to me.
Keep
up the
fight.
Sincerely,
Mike
Zarko
World Aids Day focuses on what you can do to combat the disease
At first glance, dressed in black,
with
tattoos running up and down both arms, and a skull-like silver belt buckle,
Bob Bowers is an imposing figure.
That is until he starts to to talk about
living with HIV/AIDS
for 23 years. Tears start flowing and the tough guy persona melts away.
The tears, he says, aren’t about his life. They are for the
millions of people around the world who have died from the disease or its
complications. Many of them were his friends.
Thursday,
Bowers and
Kalee Garland, 21, who was born with
HIV which turned into “full
blown AIDS” when she was just 7 years old, spoke at Linn-Benton Community
College during
World AIDS day. Their visit was sponsored by the college’s Student Life and
Leadership office.
“We have lost 25 million brothers and sisters so far,”
Bowers said. “Yet, this is a preventable disease.”
An Oregon native,
Bowers said
AIDS is an extension of social issues including extreme poverty, racism, and
physical and mental abuse.
Bowers lost his mother when he was 10 and never knew a real father figure.
He went looking for love and often in the wrong places. At 19, he was living a
fast life of drugs and unprotected sex in Los Angeles.
At 21, he was diagnosed with what was then called
Gay Related Immune Deficiency. He said
AIDS no longer garners front page headlines because people believe there are
“drug cocktails” that have defeated the disease.
“Those cocktails are actually chemotherapeutic medications,”
Bowers said. “They are powerful, they make you sick. It isn’t pleasant and
they cost thousands of dollars per month.” They also don’t work for everyone
with AIDS.
Bowers said
HIV/AIDS does not discriminate by social class. It is not a homosexual
disease.
“It’s not who you are, it’s what you do,”
Bowers said. “If you want to shoot dope, don’t share needles. If you want to
have sex,
use a condom.”
Garland is a San Diego, Calif. native who learned about her disease after a
teacher thought she had been abused at home. Bruises were outward signs of her
disease.
“I love my life. I was supposed to die at age 7,”
Garland said. “I am not a survivor; I am a fighter.”
Garland has endured the inability to fight off infections caused by the
disease, including battling meningitis four times and having 68 spinal taps
during her many stays in hospitals. She has also suffered from the ignorance of
others, including teachers,
when it comes to HIV/AIDS.
Garland is engaged to be married and says her fiance does not have HIV/AIDS.
Bowers was married for 11 years and his wife did not
have HIV/AIDS, nor does she now. He has been in a 3-year relationship with a
woman who does not have
HIV/AIDS.
Protection,
Bowers and
Garland agree, is mandatory, not just because of AIDS, but also to protect
yourself from more than two dozen
sexually transmitted diseases. The two encouraged the audience to be
involved by becoming educated, getting tested, volunteering with programs such
as the
Valley Aids Information Network and supporting legislation to find a cure
for the disease.
Da
Pirate gives a frank and candid interview for 92.1 The Mic,
Madison's Progressive Talk Radio
The interview is an hour long and broken into six segments on
YouTube
Thank you to Lee Rayburn
Hi
Bob -- You were wonderful at the Walk,
you have a great talent to pump up an
audience, and your messages were outstanding.
Thank YOU for joining us and being an
important part of the day.
Da Pirate interviewed on KPNW and
KLOO FM radio in Eugene and Albany,
Oregon - Thank you to Diana Russell
and Bill Lundun
YouTube's from Oregon Speaking
Tour in November, 2007
Bob and
Kalee being interviewed
for "Hot Topic" on KLOO Radio
in Albany, Oregon
Includes a variety of photos...
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Da
Pirate
featured on
www.storybridge.tv
in conjunction with the
ACT V AIDS Ride
in Madison, Wisconsin.
Be sure and visit my friends
Katy and Jay at StoryBridge.tv
and register to leave comments,
thank you! They have launched
their all new look and feel
which includes interactive
tools such as, the ability
to embed this and other
stories on your website
or blog, HIV/AIDS information,
message boards and
resources.
Please tune in and share
this video with your friends!
MORE
RECENT NEWS:
Student, born with HIV, gives talk
By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter
When
Kalee Garland was 7 years old, her teacher called Child Protective Services
because she saw Garland covered in bruises and feared the worst.
But the worst was not exactly what her teacher had expected. Garland was not
being hurt by her mother. She was battling AIDS.
The diagnosis was unexpected to everyone, especially Garland’s mother, who until
that moment hadn’t realized that she had been infected with HIV by a boyfriend
long before Garland was born.
Garland was born with the virus, and by age 7 she had full-blown AIDS — and a
very bleak prognosis. Doctors didn’t expect her to live longer than six months.
But now, at age 21, Garland is a university student in San Diego with a fiancé
and exciting plans for her future. For the past week, she’s been traveling
around Oregon with her friend, Bob Bowers of HIVictorious, talking about her
life with AIDS to school kids, community groups and whoever else will listen.
Bowers is the nephew of Corvallis resident David Williams. The Corvallis Elks,
of which Williams is a member, has hosted Bowers and Garland’s appearances. They
will speak at area high schools, Community Outreach Inc. and other locations,
including a keynote address at Linn Benton Community College. It is scheduled
for Thursday as part of International World AIDS Day.
Garland first met Bowers when she was attending Camp Heartland, a camp for
children and teens affected by HIV.
“I saw Bob and totally connected with him ... He had tattoos,
and he reminded me of Henry Rollins,” she said, referring to the famed — and
heavily inked — author and former lead singer of the punk group Black Flag.
When Bowers started talking about his own experiences as an HIV-positive adult,
he also shared his mission through HIVictorious, which is to educate and
demystify the world of AIDS/HIV. He asked Garland if she might be interested in
traveling to Oregon in the fall to help him share that message.
“I jumped at the chance,” Garland said. She’s already done multiple
presentations on AIDS through the University of California at San Diego, and
feels it’s important to help people understand the truth about HIV.
“People with HIV and AIDS are just human,” she said. “We’re not running around
infecting people. You have to engage in a behavior that’s high risk to contract
it.”
Garland survived her early years with AIDS by taking a combination of highly
toxic AIDS medications, but by the age of 10, she began refusing treatment
because the side effects were too great. For a time, she participated in an
experimental treatment where she was infused with a donor’s white blood cells,
but the experiment was discontinued, so throughout her teen years, Garland went
untreated.
That turned out to be a mistake. Garland contracted meningitis four times
between the ages of 16 and 18, and the final time, it was so severe that doctors
had to implant a shunt through her head that drained into her stomach. She
decided it was time to get back on her medications.
Today, her viral load is now undetectable, and her T-cell count is at 80, where
it used to be in the teens. T-cells are a kind of white blood cell that help
fight off illness. A healthy human usually has a count of 600 to 1,200.
She doesn’t know what the future holds, but says any prognosis she receives will
be taken with a dash of skepticism. After all, doctors didn’t expect her to
survive past age 8 anyway.
And while she wants to make sure other young people know that people with AIDS
and HIV shouldn’t be feared, she wants to impress upon them that the disease
itself is nothing to take casually.
“You’re not invincible,” she said.
*************
Alex
Paul/Democrat-Herald
Kalee
Garland,
who
has
was
born
with
HIV/AIDS,
and
Bob
Bowers,
who
has
lived
with
the
disease
for
23 years,
spoke
Thursday
at Linn-Benton
Community
College
during
World
Aids
Day.
World Aids Day focuses on what you can do to
combat the disease
At first glance, dressed in black, with tattoos running up and down both arms,
and a skull-like silver belt buckle, Bob Bowers is an imposing figure.
That is until he starts to to talk about living with HIV/AIDS for 23 years.
Tears start flowing and the tough guy persona melts away.
The tears, he says, aren’t about his life. They are for the millions of people
around the world who have died from the disease or its complications. Many of
them were his friends.
Thursday, Bowers and Kalee Garland, 21, who was born with HIV which turned into
“full blown AIDS” when she was just 7 years old, spoke at Linn-Benton Community
College during World AIDS day. Their visit was sponsored by the college’s
Student Life and Leadership office.
“We have lost 25 million brothers and sisters so far,” Bowers said. “Yet, this
is a preventable disease.”
An Oregon native, Bowers said is an extension of social issues including extreme
poverty, racism, and physical and mental abuse. Bowers lost his mother when he
was 10 and never knew a real father figure. He went looking for love and often
in the wrong places. At 19, he was living a fast life of drugs and unprotected
sex in Los Angeles.
At 21, he was diagnosed with what was then called Gay Related Immune Deficiency.
He said AIDS no longer garners front page headlines because people believe there
are “drug cocktails” that have defeated the disease.
“Those cocktails are actually chemotherapeutic medications,” Bowers said. “They
are powerful, they make you sick. It isn’t pleasant and they cost thousands of
dollars per month.” They also don’t work for everyone with AIDS.
Bowers said HIV/AIDS does not discriminate by social class. It is not a
homosexual disease.
It’s not who you are, it’s what you do, Bowers said. “If you want to shoot dope,
don’t share needles. If you want to have sex, use a condom.”
Garland is a San Diego, Calif. native who learned about her disease after a
teacher thought she had been abused at home. Bruises were outward signs of her
disease.
“I love my life. I was supposed to die at age 7,” Garland said. “I am not a
survivor; I am a fighter.”
Garland has endured the inability to fight off infections caused by the disease,
including battling meningitis four times and having 68 spinal taps during her
many stays in hospitals. She has also suffered from the ignorance of others,
including teachers, when it comes to HIV/AIDS.
Garland is engaged to be married and says her fiancé does not have HIV/AIDS.
Bowers was married for 11 years and his wife did not have HIV/AIDS, nor does she
now. He has been in a 3-year relationship with a woman who does not have
HIV/AIDS.
Protection, Bowers and Garland agree, is mandatory, not just because of AIDS,
but also to protect yourself from more than two dozen sexually transmitted
diseases. The two encouraged the audience to be involved by becoming educated,
getting tested, volunteering with programs such as the Valley Aids Information
Network and supporting legislation to find a cure for the disease.
Students learn to
stay
HIVictorious
Katjusa Cisar
Correspondent for The
Capital Times — 11/14/2007
What if it were you? What if you were HIV positive?
Collin Burke would "teach the world to understand." A senior at Madison Memorial
High School, he is the first place winner in the second round of the "What if it
were you?" poster contest, a project of the local AIDS-awareness group
HIVictorious. Winners and runners-up in the contest are being announced today in
a ceremony at Memorial.
Burke's poster depicts a light bulb with a red AIDS-awareness ribbon instead of
a filament -- "like, 'Oh, I get it," he said.
At 18, Burke has never known a world without the AIDS virus. His uncle was one
of the first in Madison to die of AIDS, before Burke was even born.
"I never knew him, but it's been with my family. It's just slowly sunk in," he
said.
Kids in high school now weren't around for the disease's devastating first
decade, and this has led to a generation gap in awareness, according to Bob
Bowers, who leads HIVictorious and several other AIDS-awareness initiatives in
the area.
As the rate
of
HIV infection
reaches highs
in
Dane County
not seen since
1992, Bob Bowers
(bottom center)
reaches out
to
students,
such as this
La Follette
High School
class, to have
them confront
a disease that
got the most
attention before
they were born.
Complacency set in with the advent of
life-lengthening protease inhibitor drugs in 1995, and as a
result, "kids think medication is the cure,
so they're apathetic. They think, 'I can just take one pill.'"
This dismissive attitude among teens could be dangerous. In 2004 and 2006, Dane
County had the highest rates of new HIV infections since 1992, and one in five
of these infections were in the 15-24 age range, according to the Wisconsin
Department of Health AIDS/HIV Program.
And despite advances in AIDS treatment, medication isn't just a quick pill-pop.
It's a toxic cocktail of drugs that ultimately offers no cure, costs up to
thousands of dollars per month and can make you feel even sicker.
Bowers would know. He's been HIV-positive for 25 years, on disability since
1986. He vomits regularly after taking his morning mix of pills. The vomiting
used to happen so often and so violently that he needed hernia surgery. He's
been in and out of emergency rooms for years and dealt with excruciating side
effects.
You wouldn't know it to look at him: the man has tattoos wrapped around his
beefy arms and torso, and thick biceps the size of small rotisserie chickens. A
former personal trainer, he's been told he looks like a "pirate that eats small
children."
It's all image, he protests: "I'm the most sensitive guy. I was in a fight when
I was in third grade and when I was 19. I'm Jewish -- I worry about everything."
A candid message
Image helps when Bowers gives presentations to high school students, which he's
been doing more than 20 years. He also tells his story to the art classes
involved in the "What if it were you?" contests. At a recent presentation at
Middleton Alternative Senior High, he wore a long basketball jersey, big rings
on his fingers and a chain hooking his wallet to his pants.
But emulating a hip teen image seems less important to students than his candid,
no-nonsense approach.
He comes right out with what everyone wants to know but is afraid to ask: he
contracted HIV in January of 1983 in a hotel room in Los Angeles while shooting
up crystal meth with his girlfriend and another couple.
"I'd never seen a syringe before in my life. I knew I was doing the wrong thing,
but I didn't want to be" seen as a wimp, he said. He recalls his girlfriend
pressuring him, telling him sex would be great when they were high. Two years
later, his barber noticed swollen lymph glands while cutting his hair.
Bowers combines this candidness with blunt safe sex tips and arresting
statistical comparisons ("Three million of our brothers and sisters died in 2006
from AIDS. That's 20 fully-loaded jets crashing daily for a year").
Educating kids about HIV/AIDS and condoms is something federal-funded
organizations, like AIDS Network of Madison, can't do easily because of funding
restrictions that limit their education efforts to high-risk populations.
"Currently, the feds don't believe that high school kids are at risk. The other
restriction we've seen is the trend toward funding abstinence-only messages. We
believe that it's important for people to get info regardless of where they
might fall on a risk scale," said Bob Power, former executive director of the
AIDS Network.
What's so powerful about Bowers, he added, is that his message can remain
unhampered by these restrictions.
Bowers wishes the government would broaden its scope: "Federal money only wants
to target men having sex with men, women of color and drug users. They're not
giving funding to the general public. As liberal and compassionate as we are,
there's not everyday awareness beyond a couple token days a year."
Poster power
The poster project is a "proactive way to carry the message," said Bowers. Each
contest targets four area high schools. The first one took place last spring,
and 500 copies of the winning poster, by Shaina Langlois of Shabazz High School,
went up around Dane County.
"We smothered State Street," he said.
Langlois drew a crying girl accompanied with the words, "I would smile through
the tears." Now a liberal arts transfer student at Madison Area Technical
College, she says Bowers is a "great person to head such an organization. He's
been through it."
Sixteen-year-old Kacey Montgomery of Memorial, who won an honorable mention in
the current contest, said would follow in the footsteps of Bowers if she were
HIV positive. "Live, love and educate" was the message on her poster, under a
computer animation drawing that distorted the silhouettes of Flea and Anthony
Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, her favorite band.
After hearing Bowers talk to her art class, she said "He's not like a
motivational speaker. Kids can relate to him more. I definitely think it's a
good group to target. We're young and once we learn, we'll know how to protect
ourselves in the future."
If Bowers could to go back to that moment in the Los Angeles hotel room when he
was 19, he said he wouldn't change what happened.
"It's my gift: to wake up every day and do my best. It makes me realize how
precious life is."
Besides the poster contest, HIVictorious has also been soliciting local
politicians for answers to the question "What if it were you?"
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin responded, "I have had dear friends who died
courageously with this disease over the years. In all my actions, I would strive
to live every day with their spirit leading me."
THE WINNERS
These Dane County high school students were awarded for their entries in the
"What if it were you?" poster contest to promote HIV awareness.
Speaker uses his
story to
fight AIDS:
Bob Bowers got it from a needle
23 years ago
By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter
When heavily tattooed Bob Bowers shows up at a high school and announces that
his nickname is Pirate, he definitely gets attention from the teens he’s talking
to. He knows that his tough-guy appearance wins him respect that a middle-aged
guy in a suit with a Powerpoint presentation won’t earn.
But the 44-year-old Bowers needs every ounce of attention he can get, because
he’s got a tough message to get out. Bowers has been HIV-positive for 23 years,
and has been trying to educate Americans about HIV/AIDS ever since his own
diagnosis in the early 1980s.
On Saturday, he’ll come back to his home state to speak in Corvallis at an
HIV/AIDS awareness fund-raiser dinner.
Bowers, who graduated from North Bend High School, was 21 years old and living a
hard-partying life in Los Angeles when he started feeling sick. His lymph nodes
were swollen and he was fighting off fatigue.
“I was doing drugs at the time, so it was hard to tell the difference between
being high or being sick,” he said.
Bowers, who had used intravenous drugs, had heard of AIDS but never considered
that he was at risk. A doctor’s diagnosis told him differently.
“I was clueless,” Bowers said. His doctor told him to prepare for the worst. At
the time, the diagnosis was a death sentence. But fate, and medication, kept him
alive while more than 40 of his friends died.
In 1999, when a close friend died from AIDS-related illness, it was “the last
straw,” Bowers said. He began dedicating himself to public speaking.
“My biggest gift is not eloquence and big words,” he said. “I’m extremely
passionate. I live it, I breathe it.”
Bowers has formed a non-profit organization called HIVictorious, and spends most
of his time traveling. His presentation at the Corvallis HIV/AIDS Awareness
dinner is the first time he’s had a chance to speak in his home state.
Bowers has been invited to speak by the Corvallis Elks Lodge, where his uncle,
David Williams, is a member. Williams said he’s been inspired by the work his
nephew has done. He’s also found himself learning through Bowers’ experiences.
“I’ve had my eyes closed (to HIV/AIDS) for years,” Williams said. But now he’s
eager to help his nephew with his message.
As for Bowers, he feels that he has helped change lives.
“When you speak the truth you get people to a safe place.”
if you go
WHAT: HIV/AIDS Awareness fund-raiser dinner
WHEN: Saturday, with no-host cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Corvallis Elks Lodge No. 1413, 1400 N.W. Ninth St.
Tickets can be purchased at the Elks Lodge or the Lock Doctor, 1355 N.W. Ninth
St.
*************
Available now at bookstores!
Da Pirate is featured in the Summer 2008 issue of America's first
full color pirate magazine and the only pirate magazine
available in Barnes & Noble, Borders, Hastings, Transworld, Dalton
Books, & Books A Million!
On
November 1, 2006 the winning
entries for
Madison's Time Capsule
were announced. There were
a total of 109 entries chosen,
including some of my HIV
meds and news video. On
November 15th I placed my
HIV medication into
the time capsule. The
time capsule will be
opened in 2056.
Twenty-three years is longer than most of us have been alive, but that is how
long Bob Bowers has been living with HIV. In that time, he has gained much
knowledge and experience on the disease and will be sharing then with the
Marquette community tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Weasler Auditorium as the
keynote speaker for AIDS Awareness Week.
"We hope he can educate more people and get them involved in the fight against
AIDS because it affects us all," said Aarti Bhatt, chair of Watumishi and a
junior in the College of Health Sciences. "It's a big deal. It's not just a
medical issue, but a social issue too."
Watumishi, the student organization dedicated to promoting AIDS education and
advocacy, heard about Bowers from the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin,
according to Bhatt.
Watumishi contacted Bowers, 43, of Madison, who said he was more than willing to
be a part of AIDS Awareness Week.
"It's really important, especially on the college level, for people to
understand where they have a place in this fight whether it's in their jobs or
in student groups," Bowers said. "There is work you can do right now to have a
direct impact."
In his talk, Bowers will address issues such as politics, funding and
involvement to show how the face of AIDS has changed over time.
"I want to address the political climate in the fight against AIDS, which has to
do with everything from funding to issues addressing law makers and how
important that is in the overall fight," he said.
Bowers will also speak about his personal experiences in battling HIV. At age
21, Bowers said he was living on the streets of Los Angeles addicted to speed.
He shared a needle only once, but that was enough. A doctor diagnosed him with
AIDS-related complex in 1985. AIDS-related complex is today called HIV
symptomatic, which means the patient has HIV and certain symptoms, Bowers said.
"The first case of AIDS reported in the United States was in 1981, so there was
little knowledge at the time I got infected," he said. "It was very frightening.
I had seen people I knew drop dead from it because they had no medications
whatsoever."
Bowers said he began speaking in 1986 at a high school near Hollywood. He spoke
off and on until 1999 when he dove into speaking fulltime after the AIDS-related
death of one of his closest friends.
"He was one of my best friends in the world," Bowers said. "He supported me all
along. His death was the last straw."
In April 2005, Bowers founded a small non-profit organization, HIVictorious,
Inc. He also works closely with other organizations like the AIDS Treatment
Activists Coalition, the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, the AIDS
Network-Madison and Camp Heartland, a camp for HIV-infected children with
locations in Willow River, Minn. and Malibu, Calif.
Julie Pintar, a senior in the College of Nursing, met Bowers while working at
Camp Heartland last summer.
"I feel lucky that I got to work with him and become friends with him," she
said. "He is an amazing person who has dedicated his life to the cause."
Pintar said she believes Marquette will benefit from having Bowers speak because
many people don't think it could ever happen to them. Hopefully, he will inspire
more people to take steps to remain negative and to get tested, she said.
"My main goal is to empower people with truth and some of the realities of
sexuality and STD's in general," Bowers said. "I try to present that in a very
real manner so people can understand, empower themselves and decide what they
want to do."
Instead of letting HIV bring him down, Bowers has used it to positively change
his life, according to Pintar.
"I am not defined by HIV any longer," he said. "I have as much a chance for life
as you do."
*************
Sea Of Red Rolls Through Southern Wisconsin
Reporter: Michelle Riell
It's one day
down and three to go for more than 130 cyclists taking part in the fifth annual
ACT ride, which benefits the AIDS Network. The ACT ride is one of AIDS Network's
biggest fundraisers and is helping to save the lives of people right here in
Southern Wisconsin.
Proudly wearing red jerseys and packing plenty of water, more than 130 cyclists
are riding for a reason, to help people like Bob Bowers. Bowers was infected
with HIV in 1983. Now, 24 years later, Bowers is relatively healthy and a proud
AIDS survivor. Bowers says, "I have been on just about every medication out
there, I have been greatly supported by organizations such as the AIDS network
and I whole heartedly mean that without their support, emotionally financially
and otherwise, that I would not be here today."
Bowers is committed to giving his life to causes like the ACT Ride, which raise
money and awareness for people like him who are living with HIV or AIDS.
Each cyclist must raise $1100.00, but most raise more. Kim Randall is riding for
the first time. He says, "We had about $1,326 a piece I believe." Gerry Haney is
a third time rider and says, "This year I think it was $1,500, last year was
close to $2,800, the year before that was little over two grand." Haney
volunteers with the AIDS Network and is riding because he likes the camaraderie,
feels a sense of responsibility and enjoys the 300 mile ride. Riders like Kim
Randall are riding for the personal challenge, and may just be looking forward
to the finish line. Randall says, "They keep telling me how much fun this is
going to be and I'm taking their word for it at this point."
Others ride because they or someone they know have been touched by HIV/AIDS.
Whatever the reason, Bowers is glad people are riding with a common goal, to end
the spread of this deadly virus and the stigma associated with it. Bowers says,
"There's, it's truly indescribable, it does my heart good, that's why I come
out, full of energy and full of love and support for them because without them I
truly would not be here."
Collectively, the ACT rides have raised nearly $1,000,000.00, all of which stays
right here in Southern Wisconsin. The 4 day ride goes through Baraboo, New
Glarus, Mt. Vernon and Mt. Horeb and finishes up in downtown Madison on Sunday
at 2:30.
A local leader in the fight against HIV and AIDS takes a powerful message to
area high school
students.
Bob Bowers is a 23 year survivor of AIDS and an HIV - AIDS awareness advocate -
today he asked Malcolm Shabazz High Schoolers "What if it were you?"
It's a question that prompts students to think about what they would do and how
they would handle HIV.
The program is part of a new awareness campaign and poster contest that uses
peer awareness techniques to educate and inform.
Bowers says, "AIDS is still raging on and they need to understand that there is
no cure for HIV/AIDS and they need to understand the true complexities and
realities that surround the disease itself."
The winners of the poster contest
will win a red iPod and have their art displayed at locations throughout the
city this spring and summer.
As several remember the lives lost,
those living with the disease are constantly reminded about the little progress
made toward finding a cure.
But local groups like the AIDS
Network continue the fight to educate AIDS patients.
Photo of Da Pirate's interview by Della Haugen
"If one of us has this disease we
all have it and that it isn't a African American disease and it isn't a m-s-m
disease, it's not a trans-gender disease, it's not a homosexual disease, it's a
disease of humanity," says AIDS patient Bob Bowers.
Bob Bowers has been living with AIDS for nearly 23 years, he now devotes his
time to educating people about the disease and the day to day struggle that goes
along with it.
" there's stigma there's shame there's homophobia there's racism, there's a
whole lot of problems that surround AIDS. "
But one of the main problems, medication. Bowers says as the United States
reaches out to other countries battling AIDS, Americans continue to suffer.
" we think the ability to get countries like Africa and India access to HIV
medications but we don't have full access right here in the United States."
For Bowers educating himself on AIDS came with time, when he was diagnosed the
doctors used a term no longer used , AIDS related complex. Since then Bowers has
been in a constant battle to fight the disease.
"I have been in a wheelchair I've had months and years of perfuse vomiting to
the point where I had pre cancer in my throat . "
But it has been programs like the Madison Aids Network , which currently offers
support to more than three hundred patients, that helps Bowers continue
especially on a Day like World AIDS Day.
"our
promise is that we will be here as long as we need to be here taking care of
people living with AIDS and doing everything that we can to prevent further
infections from happening," says AIDS Network Executive Director, Bob Power.
" it's a bitter sweet day we've made progress but the pandemic rages on and
there's much work to be done and I fight just as hard on this day," says Bob
Bowers.
A fight that millions are fighting across the U.S., waiting for the for the day
when there is a cure of more than just hope.
" AIDS Is far from over "
***********************
Photo by: Steve Apps-State Journal
The "riderless" bike, representing those who
have died of AIDS, brought tears to many, including Cass Marie Downing, left,
and Bob Bowers, at closing ceremonies for the ACT 4 AIDS Network Cycles Together
bike ride Sunday. Downing, 34, has been HIV-positive for 12 years and Bowers,
43, has had AIDS for 23 years. Leading the bike was "a huge honor," said
Downing, "to be able to keep the spirit alive for people."
MON., AUG 7, 2006 - 11:43 AM
Cyclists ride to benefit AIDS Network, raise $233,305
Reporter: JUDY NEWMAN
Nancy Bertalmio, of Batavia, Ill., clutched a
bouquet of flowers as she stood along the curb of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
waiting for the 130 cyclists on the ACT 4 AIDS Network Cycles Together Ride to
make their final lap Sunday.
The pink roses and peach Peruvian lilies were for her son, Joe Bertalmio, 22, a
senior at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. He's ridden in each of the
Madison AIDS Network's four rides, and this year, convinced his mom to join the
90 crew members as part of the food crew.
"I'm proud of him," Nancy Bertalmio said. "He just likes to help out mankind."
Jan Breisath had a cheering section of three - her mother, aunt and sister -
armed with red and white pompons, waiting for her. It was the third AIDS Network
ride for Breisath, 51, Brooklyn, an employee of J.T. Packard, Verona.
"There were some hot days for her, but she made it," her aunt, Florinda Wittwer
of Monticello, said proudly.
Several hundred people cheered and applauded as the cyclists made their "victory
ride" off the Capital Square and hoisted their bikes over their heads, capping
"a 1,600-foot vertical climb, 330 miles, four days and one dream," as speaker
James Pennington, executive director of the Milwaukee LGBT (Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender) Community Center, told the crowd.
Riders and helpers stood silently together, their arms wound around each other's
shoulders, as the final, "riderless" bike was rolled in, "representing the joy
in the lives of those taken away from us by this disease," Pennington said.
"Their spirits were there to encourage us, to push us, to remind us."
The group also observed a moment of silence for Mike McKinney, the WMTV (Channel
15) anchorman who died of cancer in July. McKinney, 41, past honorary chair of
the AIDS ride, donated his bike to the AIDS Network, said Pennington, calling
the bike "a symbol of a man taken too soon."
The closing celebration lauded the riders' stamina - pushing on in heat and
humidity, over hills and through Sunday morning's downpours - and their
fundraising. They collected $233,305 to support the AIDS Network of South
Central Wisconsin, for a total of $1.1 million raised through the four rides
sponsored by the organization.
"They are truly my inspiration," said Bob Bowers of Madison, his voice choking
with emotion. "The love and gratitude I feel for them is immense."
But Bowers, who's been living with HIV and AIDS for 23 years, also expressed
anger about a lack of progress in finding a cure for the immune system disorder
or in changing society's attitude.
"Shame, homophobia and sheer ignorance continue to shroud HIV/AIDS. It is a
scourge in the true meaning of the word," Bowers said. "We are not lepers or
indispensable. We are brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, parents, and yes, even
grandparents."
Claire Winter's son, Frank Torcaso of Madison, died of AIDS June 30 at age 43.
Winter, 67, of Highland, has ridden the AIDS Network ride in past years, but
this time, it was especially important, she said. "My son was with me all the
way," Winter added.
Jan Hornback, Madison, has friends who have lost loved ones to AIDS. A rookie on
the AIDS ride, she was struck with the way "everyone helped one another."
The ride was a tough challenge, said Hornback, 61, an employee of the UW-Madison
Graduate School. "On the second day, you couldn't find a spot to sit on that was
not sore," she said.
After pedaling the full 330 miles and then some, Hornback said she was looking
forward to going home and taking a shower. But she's not ready to hang up her
wheels just yet.
"I'm taking the day off tomorrow and I'm going to go for a bike ride," she said.
The amazing lunch crew of year's ACT IV AIDS Ride.
***********************
If you saw our next subject on the street, he would most likely catch your eye - heavily muscled, sporting
tattoos that cover most of his upper body and arms, gauge piercing in both ears. As one friend affectionately put it, he looks like "a pirate that eats small children." Nothing however could be further from the truth. In fact breaking down stereotypes is what Bob Bowers is all about....
Bob Bowers stands at the front of a room full of college students. Every eye is fixed on his enormous arms, trying to read them. His body is covered in dozens of tattoos.
Flaming skulls and spider webs twist around his wrists, up to his shoulders and across his chest. There are too many to count. His friends call him "Pirate."
The ink on his body was injected with a small needle that moves up and down at a rate of several hundred vibrations per minute. It penetrates the skin only by one millimeter but can leave grown men in tears.
It only takes one look to know Bob has felt some pain in his life. His tattoos tell a story. Somewhere in the living mural is a beginning and an end. Bob goes back to the parlor year after year adding to his body new cryptic images.
"I shared a needle with my girlfriend one time," Bob said. In 1983 Bob and his girlfriend wanted to get high and so they shot up some crystal meth. It changed Bob's life forever. Two years later he was diagnosed with the AIDS virus.
One more tattoo means one more year of survival. He celebrated 20 years with a tattoo of a blue bird. AIDS is trying to kill him but Bob is fighting back. I don't want sympathy and I don't want people to perceive me as a victim, he said.
Bob will do anything to survive the disease. He lives one day, one dose at a time. Drugs have turned his automatic death sentence into a painful but manageable disease. He estimates that his prescriptions cost about $3,000 per month. "I'm a walking testament to modern medicine," Bob said. He opened a medicine bottle and poured a heap of pills into his hand-the "morning dose." He tried to pop the handful into his mouth all at once but couldn't do it, there were too many.
He passed around a hypodermic needle for everyone in the classroom to see. The needle is more than an inch long. His body stopped producing testosterone a long time ago so he will inject some of the hormone into his thigh. "That's a lot of meat to go through!" he jokes.
He has a big smile on his face. To him, this all feels like a miracle. The drugs keep him alive.
Years ago he was being injected with mice cells just to experiment for potential treatments. Some of the drugs he was once prescribed made him so sick he couldn't eat a house salad without vomiting.
In 1989 he started what was known as "monotherapy," or AZT. It was the first drug approved for the treatment of HIV. The drug stops the virus from spreading to new cells but does nothing for cells already infected. To Bob the medication is like a Band-Aid over a gaping wound. "There is a multitude of ways they attack it but they're just slowing it down," he said.
Bob used monotherapy for seven years until the FDA approved new drugs called protease inhibitors in 1995. Bob started taking the combination therapy, also known as the "cocktail." According to the Center for AIDS Information and Advocacy, combination therapy "radically altered the course of HIV disease."
But the cocktail made Bob feel sicker than ever. He began to wonder what chemotherapy must feel like. "They wear on your body and your mind. Then try going to work, shitting yourself, vomiting yourself." The side effects of the medications got worse. He stood in his shower for hours vomiting everyday.
"We kept hope for a new drug." One pill made him numb from his mouth to his belly, like a shot of Novocain from the dentist's office. One pill put him in a wheelchair. He didn't care about the side effects; Bob was surviving to see tomorrow.
He kept score as the "cocktail" had a great impact on the AIDScommunity. Deaths attributed to the disease dropped drastically wherever combination treatment was available. In 1997, for the first time since 1990, AIDS dropped from 8th to 14th place as a leading cause for death in the United States, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1999 the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced they had finally traced the origin of AIDS to a group of subspecies of chimpanzees in Africa. Bob had been living with the disease for 16 years already.
Bob can look back and remember everything that has happened. He can remember his friends dying. He can remember all his girlfriends and his 11-year marriage. While living with AIDS, Bob owned a gym in Los Angeles and he can remember that, too. He looks back and thinks about his mother dying of breast cancer when she was 35 years old.
"I never thought I would see 35, no way," he said. Bob is now 43. "It's a miracle." Most of all, his dreams have kept Bob going. "Every dream I ever had even before I had AIDS has come true," he said.
When Bob was 21 years old he went to the doctor. He thought he had simply been partying too much. Swollen glands, fever and fatigue called for a blood test and the results came soon after.
That was how it all started: the treatments, medications, blood tests and injections. The insults, anger and confusion, they all started, too. In 1985, the only thing spreading faster than AIDS were the misconceptions about the virus.
HIV and AIDS were called "gay diseases" and people believed they could be spread from sharing water fountains or kissing. Bob was afraid to share a soda with anyone. Some of the doctors refused to enter the room because they were afraid. Other doctors wore protective gloves and masks just to talk to Bob.
"People have no clue as to the passion, the anger I have that today we know exactly how AIDS is spread," he said. Bob is on an endless pursuit to spread awareness about the disease.
He started fighting AIDS in his body. Now he is fighting it from spreading to other people. He is fighting at home, at elementary schools, rehab centers, prisons and even in the nation's capitol. He flew to Washington D.C. to lobby for cheaper drug prices because people with AIDS are dying on waiting lists in the United States. Bob is fighting to live and he is fighting for everyone.
"People really get it when you tell it real," he said. "I try to put into context what it is like to live with HIV and AIDS." To Bob, spreading the truth about HIV and AIDS is as important as finding a cure. "If you think about the homophobia, the job discrimination, the ignorance involved. Throw in compassion and everything changes," he said.
Bob is living proof that the human spirit can survive against all odds. "I don't have to tell you that we all have our own shit to deal with, mine just happens to be AIDS," he said.
People ask Bob how he got here and he tells them it is a combination of everything. Its more than just the drugs, they are far from a cure; more than his friends, many of them have died; more than just his tough childhood, he is a grown man now. "None of those things slowed me down and I'm not about to let HIV/AIDS slow me down," he said.
Da Pirate being interviewed by Bill Lundun
Thank you to Dave and Maree Williams, Bill Lundun, Nate Gorman and all of the staff of KLOO Radio in Albany, Oregon. Thank you for spreading hope and awareness to many! Please support KLOO radio and the Clear Channel Radio Network. Visit their site to find a station in your area:
www.clearchannel.com
I am deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend Mike. I am grateful beyond words for the time and memories shared with this inspiring and courageous man. This man's generosity has inspired my life and mission more than ever before. He will be missed by countless friends and family. He gave tirelessly in the fight against HIV/AIDS (rode and crewed in four AIDS Rides, amongst other efforts) as well as hunger and many other community and social issues. Mike was a man of rare stature and I'm deeply honored to have known Mr. McKinney and even more humbled to call him my friend! I was blessed to have been asked by Mike before his passing to speak at his most incredible memorial service here in Madison.
Please read more about our dear friend Mike McKinney, NBC 15 anchor and reporter, who passed away recently after a long battle with cancer.
I appreciated
your willingness
to be featured
in the State
Journal
and your
story can't
help but
bring hope
to others.
I live in
Madison
and am a
HIV/AIDS
Instructor
Trainer
for the
Red Cross
and I have
come to
know how
powerful
it is to
hear personal
stories.
I've visited
your website
where I
got your
e-mail and
want to
thank you
for all
the significant
information
you provide
there.
I send my
deepest
appreciation
and warmest
greetings
to you.
Have a good
day....they
come
one at a
time.
A
credible
medical
journal
released
an article
this
week
that
touts
they
are
closer
than
ever
to finding
a cure
for
HIV.
Bob
Bowers
has
lived
with
the
disease
for
22 years.
His
reaction
to this
news
is mixed.
The
article
has
some
rejoicing,
but
others
are
rejecting
the
claim.
Including
people
who
live
with
the
disease
everyday.
Bob
Bowers/Living
with
HIV
says,
"To
mix
the
word
cure
in there
is just
unacceptable."
Bowers
isn't
convinced
by this
article
in the
Lancet
Medical
Journal.
In it
a group
of US
scientists
reported
a new
approach
they
say
could
eliminate
HIV
by using
a drug
called
valproic
combined
with
a therapeutic
cocktail.
They're
convinced
this
could
lead
to a
cure
in the
future.
Bowers
says,
"Initially,
even
when
you
told
me this
today,
I get
this
sudden
sense
of hope
almost
chills."
But,
that
feeling
changes
almost
instantly.
Bowers
says,
"After
that
goes
strictly
to skepticism,
who
said
it,
why
did
they
say
it,
and
for
what,
and
sure
enough
after
looking
at this
information,
it's
like,
why
did
they
put
this
out
there."
In this
article,
the
research
team
made
their
findings
only
after
three
out
of four
people
saw
a significant
reduction
in latent
HIV.
Latent
virus
is what
is hidden
in the
body's
DNA,
which
is difficult
to treat.
Bowers
says,
"So
to come
out
today
and
have
rhetoric
at best
of touting
a cure
is somewhat
insulting."
What
drugs
Bob
is more
concerned
with
is the
ones
he takes
everyday.
At the
end
of the
month,
Bob
will
travel
to Crawford,
Texas
to protest
the
cut
to Medicare
that
directly
affects
people
on HIV
medication.
Bowers
says,
"Civilly
protest
the
huge
deficit
in funding
for
the
AIDS
Drug
Assistance
Program."
From
Bob's
practical
knowledge
of the
disease
he wants
to believe
in a
cure,
but
knows
one
isn't
coming
anytime
soon.
Bob's
would
of preferred
the
Lancet
use
the
word
hope
instead
of cure.
For
Bob
and
others
living
with
HIV
and
even
the
doctors
I spoke
to today
on the
phone,
this
creates
a false
sense
of hope.
When
Kalee Garland was 7 years old, her teacher called Child Protective Services
because she saw Garland covered in bruises and feared the worst.
students.
