Welcome
to the 'mugshot' photos page. Taking photographs is something that I've
enjoyed since childhood. I hope you
enjoy the 'up close and personal'
pictures
with family, friends and 'critters'
who have blessed my journey while living with HIV/AIDS!
My hope is that by you finding this page, it will help change your perceptions
of those living with HIV/AIDS. There is no one face to this disease and it is
important that we understand that there are many faces to AIDS. Sadly, it is
estimated that 33 million people in the World are living with HIV, and there are
over 1 million people living with HIV in the United States. Personally, I have
been living with HIV/AIDS for 25 years. As a youth HIV/AIDS educator and AIDS
activist, I wholeheartedly remain committed to raising awareness for this
disease. After losing dozens of friends to AIDS, I
pray that we will soon see and END to this pandemic - enough is enough already! I
remind myself and you, AIDS does not have be a death sentence, rather, a "life
sentence." Thank you for taking the time to view my website and for educating
yourselves and others.
In Oneness,
Bob Bowers - a.k.a. Da Pirate
CLICK ON THUMBNAILS
BELOW TO ENLARGE
PICTURES
(MANY MORE MUGSHOTS
BELOW)
Bob,
Thanks for speaking up about
a disease that most people
try to hide because it is
'wrong.'
Talking about HIV
and AIDS and how living
with the illness is, opened
my eyes even more. I had
met you before but every
time you talk about it,
it makes me cry. I know
the medicine "cocktails"
make you a little sick sometimes,
but keep your head up and
be strong. Thanks!
Much Love,
Janice A.
p.s. There is always
calm after a storm.
Stay strong Pirate.
"May you
live
all the days of your
life."
~Jonathan
Swift
You're
one of my Big Heroes!!! And
always in my thought and
prayers!!! You are the
toughest Pirate I've
ever seen!!!
~ Lydia
Bob,
Your courage and conviction to spread HIV awareness
and messages about living have inspired and motivated
me to continue my commitment to working with HIV.
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.
"Keep the promise" awareness t-shirts for World AIDS Day 2008 were made by
UW-Madison medical students to raise AIDS awareness on
campus and to also raise funds for
HIVictorious, Inc.
THANK YOU to all of you for
providing World AIDS Day events throughout the week! It was
an honor to help kick off the week for you!
"We
are one, after all, you and I, together we suffer,
together exist. And forever will recreate each other."
I
don't
believe that
HIV is a disease created
by ones mind. However, I do feel it
is how I use the power of my mind that
determines the ability to heal my physical
body and spirit.
