Miami's AIDS Walk turns 20: A generation's journey
Posted on Tue, Apr. 15, 2008
BY DESONTA HOLDER
MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Activist Charlie LeClair, with Mary Edwards-Phillips, seeks to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
IF YOU GO
What: The 20th anniversary of AIDS Walk Miami, a fundraiser for people affected by HIV/AIDS
When: Sunday; registration and opening ceremonies at 8 a.m.; 5K walk begins at 9 a.m.
Where: Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach
Info: 305-751-9255 or
www.aidswalkmiami.orgResources: Florida HIV/AIDS hotline, 1-800-FLA-AIDS (English) or 1-800-545-SIDA (Spanish)
''I'm living with AIDS, not dying from it,'' John Muhammad wrote in 1999.
He still lives, 21 years after his HIV diagnosis in 1987.
''All they had at that time was AZT,'' he says, referring to the first drug approved for treating HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. As more medications hit the market, Muhammad took as many as 15 pills a day. Today he takes three daily, each containing more than one medication. At 63, he's surprised to be alive.
Muhammad credits his spirituality and ``the fact that I maintained my medical involvement.''
Statistics from the Florida Department of Health verify that HIV and AIDS patients are living longer. As of Jan. 31, the agency noted 14,357 people living with HIV/AIDS in Broward and 23,255 in Miami-Dade. That's up from 13,493 and 22,002 respectively at the end of 2006.
But after two decades of AIDS awareness campaigns -- AIDS WALK Miami celebrates its 20th anniversary on Sunday -- the number of new HIV/AIDS cases has not declined considerably. Nationally, there are nearly 40,000 new cases a year; in Florida the numbers have hovered around 5,000 new cases for the past 10 years.
That's unsettling to Charlie LeClair, 55, of Miami, who has been HIV positive for 15 years. ``We need to do much more on prevention.''
For years, LeClair has volunteered with several community organizations and spread the message that HIV and AIDS are far less pleasant than what he calls the ''good looking'' models seen in awareness campaigns. Medications are helping people live longer, he says, but ``the side effects become unbearable -- neuropathy, diarrhea, headaches, fatigue, nausea.''
''Advocates like myself are getting sick and tired of saying the same thing,'' he says. ``Consumers need to get involved . . . If not their silence will equal death.''
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