Another day...another year she will not see - It is World AIDS Day

When I was a teenager I volunteered on the paediatrics ward at Philadelphia's Children's Hospital. Mikayla was a tiny, little thing whose mother cared more for drugs and sex than her daughter. She was born addicted to cocaine and HIV positive. Her little body couldn't fight the virus long and it shortly became full blown AIDS. I wasn't allowed much time with Mikayla, but what little time I had with her I held as precious because she was. I thought she was a miracle to have endured so much in her short life. And she seemed such an even-tempered baby no matter all the tubes and tests, and poking and prodding. There were many many cases of children with HIV in those days - it was the mid-years of the height of the spread of the epidemic in the United States. People were uneducated and made poor choices about protecting themselves despite the efforts of community activists and health advocates. Mikayla was just one of many victims.

I didn't understand the importance of World AIDS day when I was a teen. All I knew was I came to hospital and was told Mikayla had passed away. The state had claimed her body and dealt with all final arrangements. I don't even know if she was buried or has a headstone somewhere - it was on to another patient, on to another issue. But Mikayla made a difference to me. I think about the young woman she might have become had she lived. I think about the potential of a human life cut too short. I think about December first dawning and her drawing her last breaths on this earth. 

When I grew older, I thought it an odd sort of coincidence Mikayla should have died on World AIDS day. Wherever her soul resides I hope she is flying free. I hope we all take a moment to cherish the health of our loved ones and to consider those across the globe who are afflicted with HIV and AIDS. We've come so far, but we've so much further yet to go.