It’s World AIDS Day. Spread the word. Spread the knowledge. Spread the awareness. By doing so, we can continue searching for the cure to stop spreading the disease.

Updated (12/01/07 - 9:38P)

I originally intended to create a more seasonal theme this month, but it was brought to my attention a few days ago that World AIDS Day was coming up. This reminded me of a close friend of mine who is such an inspiration in my eyes.

Since middle school, my friend and I always tried our best to keep in touch. There were times when we lost contact, but managed to re-connect in some way. While in middle school, we dated off an on but learned that friendship is what we can really offer to one another. It was through me, he met his wife. They have a handsome little boy together.

For as long as we have known each other, he is (by far) the only friend that stayed “pure”. Pure in a sense that he didn’t experiment with drugs, alcohol (he’s actually allergic!), and was always in a monogamous relationship. Focused and determined, he graduated out of UW as a BioChem engineer. His goal is to help in finding cures to diseases in what today are still incurable. His philanthropic beliefs, ideas, and humanitarianism are what inspires (and driven) me in becoming more active within the community and globally.

Two years ago (a few months after his son was born), there was an accident at the lab that he worked at. To make the story short, he contracted the AIDS virus. Devastation aside, he wouldn’t let that stop him from continuing in search for a cure. Because of him having AIDS can cause a threat to the lab, he was “relieved”. Although he cannot be in a white lab coat, he is active in the AIDS awareness community. Alongside him, his wife, family, and friends (including myself) are taking part in such a cause.

Earlier this year, his immune system slowly began to deteriorate. It has worsen since then. He knows and accepts what may come in the near future. Every time I see him, I just want to take it all away from him — the anger, frustration, and the pain. I know in my heart he does not deserve this; he deserves better and more. If there is such a possibility, I would switch places with him in an instance.

Watching him in pain (though he claims he’s not hurting) and clips of men, women, and children with AIDS makes my heart cry out for them. The helplessness can be overwhelming, but the fight in finding a cure is so much more hopeful.

I hope you (the reader) can find it in you to, in some way, help take part in the fight for AIDS.

*Note: Names of individuals and companies/laboratories are undisclosed for privacy purposes.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 12:58am and is filed under Personal. This post is also tagged with aids, awareness, world aids day and 2 views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.