AIDS Sufferers Still Hide In The Shadows Even During Fundraising Walk

Even as people with HIV are living decades longer, the faces of the virus and AIDS remain largely hidden in mid-Michigan.'We don't have a sign on our buildings,'' said Tom Brubaker, care outreach coordinator for Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center's BASIS HIV/AIDS Care Program, 515 Adams in Bay City Michigan. ''Clients may face discrimination from landlords and neighbors if they find out their status. They live in the shadows. Sometimes their case manager is the only person who knows they are sick,'' Brubaker said.

An estimated 18,000 Michigan residents are infected with HIV, including 360 in Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties, according to Michigan state records.

Unlike cancer survivors who declare their battle with the disease at Relay for Life walks, most people living with HIV won't proclaim their status at the AIDS Walk Michigan on Saturday in downtown Bay City, Brubaker said. But they will walk with residents from their community who have raised pledges to support their care.

''We had more than 400 people participate last year and raised $38,000,'' Brubaker said. ''Even if others don't know you have the disease, it's heart-warming to know your community supports you.''

BASIS started its HIV/AIDS care services 20 years ago. BASIS serves about 150 clients a year in 8 mid Michigan counties. It offers case management, drug and dental assistance, help with housing, referrals to other agencies, a food pantry and support groups.The agency's primary funding source is the federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. White was an Indiana teenager with hemophilia when he contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. He and his mother, Jeannie White-Ginder, fought AIDS-related discrimination and helped educate the nation about his disease. He died in 1990 at 18, just a few months before Congress passed the act bearing his name. The Saginaw News