Lynda Wilson (pictured) has been living more than two decades with HIV/AIDS. She’s one of thousands of people for whom medication has changed AIDS from a death sentence into a chronic disease. That surviving face of the disease was on display Wednesday afternoon at a service of healing, prayer and remembrance — as was the grim reality that people are still dying from it.
Those two conflicting but very real faces of the current state of HIV/AIDS presented themselves at an annual prayer service put on at Immanuel Baptist Church by the 20-year-old AIDS Interfaith Network.
Most years, the names of the dead take a long time to read. Recent deaths have plummeted, so most of the names are of loved ones who passed on before the mid-1990s, when a drug cocktail became available that has given years of unexpected life to people living with AIDS.
The Rev. Dr. Calvin E. Robinson, Jr. (pictured), who shepherds a church in Milford, was the speaker for the service. He focused on the need for families dealing with any life-threatening illness to have faith in God and put their trust in Him. God decides when to call loved ones home, Robinson said. He said he had been told his seriously ill father’s time was up and to prepare for the end, but his dad is still around more than 20 years later.
After he spoke, Lynda Wilson had tears in her eyes.
“My family was told the same thing 20 years ago,” she said, “yet I’m still here.” She prayed for her two sisters, who both died of AIDS.
Charlotte Burch (pictured) felt moved to stand up and read one of the psalms to give comfort to those grieving the loss of their loved ones.
When those in the chapel had an opportunity to say the names of their loved ones, a few stood up and mentioned a handful of names, then added, “and I could go on and on.”
Dominick Maldonado, who’s worked for the city health department’s AIDS division for more than 20 years, said his list got so long he stopped keeping a list. He mentioned just two loved ones.
Four people came up and lit candles.
Data from the Connecticut Department of Public Health show that from 1980, when records began, through December 2008, at least 2,342 state residents have died of AIDS. (The figure is probably higher because that number includes only those for whom AIDS was listed as the cause of death. If it was listed as pneumonia or some other illness related to AIDS, they wouldn’t be counted.)
As of the December 2008, 2,472 Connecticut residents were living with HIV/AIDS.
During Wednesday’s service, a woman came in and sat in the last pew. She began crying; her husband had just died of AIDS. Another woman embraced her and began crying, too. She was the man’s case manager at AIDS Interfaith, Ana Torres.
It brought the reality of the disease into the chapel — and, in the view of people at agencies like AIDS Interfaith, the need to carry on their work.