Henry Nicols, a 20-year-old hemophiliac with AIDS, and his sister Jennifer discussed the social implications of living with AIDS in Collis Common Ground last night.
About 200 people, mostly women, turned out to hear the speech titled "Living with AIDS."
"Many people our age think AIDS is only a problem for gay men or IV drug users - they are wrong," Henry said.
"I did nothing to deserve AIDS. Nobody ever does. Nobody deserves this disease," he said.
Henry contracted the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, through one - or possibly more - of 300 blood transfusions he received for his hemophilia. His family kept his diagnosis secret for more than five years to ensure their privacy and in fear of their community's reaction.
He said to hide his HIV from his community in Cooperstown, N.Y. his father drove him more than five hours away to New York City for treatment so no one would recognize him.
Henry finally came forward at the age of 17, when he developed AIDS.
His senior year of high school, Henry started an AIDS education project to fulfill his Eagle Scout requirements for the Boy Scouts.
"My project became an international campaign. Within four months I was on the cover of People and Parade magazines," Henry said.
Approximately 2 million people in this country are currently infected with HIV. The fastest growing group of HIV infections are among heterosexual women between 16 and 25 years old, Jennifer said.
Henry admitted that he will probably lose his life to AIDS.
"If I am the first person with AIDS that you have ever met, you are lucky. I guarantee that I will not be the last," Henry said.
In a tearful address to the audience, Jennifer said, "All of you here tonight will lose somebody you love to AIDS. The difference between me and most of you is that I already know who that person is."
Henry and Jennifer said abstinence is the only safe practice but encouraged the audience to practice safer sex by using latex condoms with nonoxynol-9 spermicide.
They also urged students to donate blood if they are not in a high-risk category for contracting the disease. Jennifer also asked the audience to fight homophobia and urged them to get tested.
"If you've done anything that puts you at risk of getting HIV, getting tested is a really smart idea. The sooner you find out you're infected the better your chances are," Jennifer said.
But Jennifer warned against donating blood as a means of testing. Depending on when the virus is contracted, screening methods can fail to detect the infected blood. Sometimes it takes up to six months after contraction before an individual tests HIV-positive, Jennifer said.
