Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9412010116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KRISTEN KAMMERER CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Imagine you're a college student going to your 8 a.m. class. You stumble into the lecture hall, coffee in hand, eyes bleary.
You find a seat, crack open your notebook and face forward. Standing in front of your class, instead of your professor, is a vibrant woman in her 50s with a red ribbon pinned to her blouse and a young, blond man who looks like one of your peers. You then recall what is scheduled for that day's class: a panel discussion on AIDS.
Your attention dwindles. AIDS is an old topic, you tell yourself. It isn't relevant to your life.
Then the woman introduces herself. She is Peggy Eaton from Radford, a mother who is losing her son, Scott, to AIDS.
The young man introduces himself. He is William, 26, from Blacksburg and he has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Suddenly, the anonymous specter of AIDS has a face.
For six months, with help from the New River Valley AIDS Coalition and the AIDS Council of Western Virginia, Eaton and William have given students and health professionals throughout Southwest Virginia deeply personal accounts of how AIDS has affected their lives.
With candor and good humor, they tackle the many facets of AIDS, from living with the disease, to preventing it, to helping those you know who are affected.
"We're here to talk, to chat," Eaton told a human sexuality class at Virginia Tech. "And we want you to ask questions like crazy."
To get things rolling, William, who asked that his last name not be used for this story, asked how many students knew someone with HIV or AIDS. Two people raised their hands. "Look at me," William said. "If I hadn't told you I was HIV-positive, would you ever have known?"
Dressed in jeans, sneakers and a button-down shirt, William looks like any healthy college student. "Believe me," he said, "you know more people than you think."
"Look, we're not here to preach," Eaton said. "We're here because we want you to grow up and be moms and dads if that's what you want. ... We want you to stop and think the next time - that one moment of unprotected pleasure could deprive you of many things down the road."
Then, as if to brush off a painful thought, she waved a handful of condoms in the air and said, "So, if you choose not to abstain, take these funny things and make them part of your evening."
According to the Virginia Department of Health's Bureau of STD/AIDS, 151 AIDS cases have been reported in Roanoke since 1982, and 241 cases of HIV infection have been diagnosed since 1989.
In the New River Valley, the number of cases is 38 and 32, respectively.
Nationwide, about 195,000 people have AIDS and nearly 1 million are infected with HIV. Worldwide, about 10 million adults and 1 million children are infected. The World Health Organization says that number may reach 40 million by 2000.
The spread of AIDS is due, in part, to a shroud of silence, myth and misinformation that surrounds it.
What drives Eaton and William to talk publicly is their belief that if people, particularly young people, have more accurate information about AIDS, they will be better equipped to prevent or cope with it in their own lives. This philosophy of open communication is vital, they believe, if society ever hopes to control the disease.
"Their willingness to share their individual experiences has a strong impact on people," said Donna McMillen, director of the Southwest Regional HIV/AIDS Resource and Consultation Center. "I can give people the facts about AIDS and its prevention. But their stories show the audience the human side of the disease. Peggy's story, from a mother's perspective, really hits home."
Three years ago, just after Thanksgiving, Eaton received the fateful phone call. Scott, now 32, the oldest of her three sons, said, "Mom, I've been to the doctor - I have AIDS."
Eaton and her husband, John, who is associate dean of the graduate school at Virginia Tech, listened as their son explained that a healthy person has a T-cell count of 800 to 1,200. (T-cells, a type of white blood cell, help protect the body against infection. The AIDS virus cripples a person's immune system, in part, by destroying these cells.)
"So what's your count?" Eaton asked.
"It's 40, Mom," he said.
The news sounded like a death sentence. "I had my son dead and buried right away," Eaton said. "I had so little knowledge of the disease. ... All I could see were these skeletal images. ... I was terrified. ... We hadn't expected it."
The AIDS virus tends to lie dormant in otherwise healthy people. Once HIV is contracted, a person may live for 10 or more years without showing any symptoms, though it is more likely that the time until onset will be one to five years.
At the time of his diagnosis, Scott was living in Atlanta, designing and building furniture for Casa Designs, a company he had started. An avid collector of '50s memorabilia, he also had plans to restore a much-cherished 1960 De Soto, complete with tail fins and a push-button transmission. He soon found, however, that he was unable to tolerate the paint and polish fumes in his shop and had to stop working.
Doctors told the Eatons that their son had 18 months to live. Three years later, Scott still is in Atlanta. Despite the illness, he has been able to join his family during the holidays, hold his brother's first child and take a trip with his mother to Las Vegas, where he won $1,000 at the slot machines.
He has suffered a brain clot, shingles in his eyes, extreme fatigue and a chronic cough that has been severe enough to crack several ribs.
Despite her son's failing health, Peggy Eaton's outlook has come full circle. "After getting over the initial grief and learning more [about AIDS], I realized the unique opportunity I had. ... I had time to let my son know how much I love him, how important he is to me. And I had the chance to help people in the same situation."
Eaton has focused her efforts on the New River Valley, where she and her family have lived for 25 years. As chairwoman of the New River Valley AIDS Coalition, she talks to as many people as she can about the impact of her son's illness. She also heads a support group, Hope Is Vital, for the family and companions of those living with HIV and AIDS.
Eaton met William through the support group a year ago. A 10-year resident of Blacksburg, William was reeling from his recent diagnosis. He had left his job as manager of a restaurant and had entered a deep depression.
"When I found out I was HIV positive, I was totally shocked ... totally unprepared. Up until that time I had been planning for the future, then I realized I had to start planning for my funeral.
"But Peggy brought me out of my shell. She helped me realize that my life wasn't over, that there were things I could do."
Though William suffers from skin rashes, pain in his kidneys, fatigue and severe gum decay, he does not yet have a T-cell count below 300 - the medical definition of AIDS. To slow the virus' reproduction, he takes the drug AZT five times a day.
Nevertheless, because his immune system is compromised, a germ that would barely faze an otherwise healthy person could cause William severe illness.
"Sometimes people cringe when they learn I have HIV," he said. "But the fact is that they are more dangerous to me than I am to them." William's doctor has warned him to avoid crowds, especially during the flu season. "It's not like I'm going to wrap myself in Saran Wrap and wait to die," William said. "But if I'm in Wal-Mart and I see someone coughing or sneezing, I memorize their face and avoid them." He then added, "I had my Christmas shopping done before Halloween."
One of the first questions people ask William during presentations is how he contracted the virus. "If I tell you that I contracted it from unsafe sex, you'll immediately assume I'm gay," he told one group of students. "And if I tell you I contracted it from drugs, you'll think I'm just a useless junkie.
"And if I tell you I got it from a blood transfusion, you'll all feel sorry for me. But that's not the point."
Both Eaton and William are determined to dispel the myth that only certain people have to worry about contracting AIDS.
"People need to understand that whether you're straight or gay, if you practice unsafe sex or share needles, you're at risk," Eaton said.
Recent statistics support that conclusion. According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, 90 percent of new HIV infections are the result of heterosexual transmission. And the number of women who are contracting the virus is increasing rapidly.
But as this year draws to a close, both Eaton and William are looking forward to family visits during the holidays. For them, the time spent with loved ones has become increasingly precious.
by CNB