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May 22--Anita Case was an impressionable 12-year-old in 1986, when her uncle came back to North Carolina to die of AIDS.
In the early years of AIDS, few ordinary people knew much about a disease that would eventually kill millions. But her family's open approach to their own AIDS crisis was a powerful experience that set the course for Case's career.
"I had friends who were sexually active, and that need to educate started with me at that early age," said Case, 31, now director of the Catawba Care Coalition, which provides AIDS and HIV medical care, support and education services in York, Chester and Lancaster counties.
Case, who became director last fall, is more than just a paper pusher. She knows many of her clients and relates to them through her own AIDS experience.
She's also involved in AIDS advocacy. Late this week, she leaves for California for the AIDS Life Cycle -- a 585-mile, 2,000-person bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raises money for AIDS services and awareness. The June 4 through 10 ride is the largest of its kind in the country.
"It was truly about the journey, not the destination -- it was a ride that inspired and amazed," Case wrote in her journal during last year's AIDS ride, her first year. She was so motivated she signed up for the ride again this year, and has raised about $1,400 of the $2,500 she needs to participate.
Stigma still persists
Case was in seventh grade when her uncle, a hemophiliac, was diagnosed with AIDS and moved with his wife and three young children to Rutherfordton, N.C. His family lived with hers for a few months until they found housing.
Most people at that time, she said, were still ignorant about how the disease was spread and fearful of casual contact with patients or their families. But her family chose to announce his condition openly at church and with a story in a local newspaper, Case said. They wanted others to learn.
"He wanted to be public about it," Case recalled. "He wanted to educate people."
But that noble purpose wasn't accomplished without some personal cost. When her uncle's family found housing, they couldn't get a plumber to visit their house, she said.
His three children were enrolled in a church day care, and other parents protested and threatened to withdraw their children. But the church stood firm in accepting the children.
"It was so new," she said about AIDS. "They experienced a lot of stigma and discrimination."
Her uncle was often hospitalized at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where doctors wanted visiting family members to suit up in plastic. Though it was for his own protection, her family refused.
"They didn't want their final experiences with him to be through gloves and through masks," Case said. "They felt the importance of being able to touch him and hug him."
Her uncle died after a year, but the impression on Case stuck. She gave a science report on condoms, talked with classmates about safe sex and chose a career in AIDS social work.
After finishing Wake Forest University in 1997, Case interned at a San Francisco AIDS house, then became an HIV case manager in Hickory, N.C. She came to the local coalition in 2001 as a case manager supervisor and worked for a year at a Florence HIV clinic before returning to Rock Hill last year.
William, 54, an HIV-positive coalition client from Chester who asked to be identified by first name only, said Case has been a compassionate leader who likes to attend her clients' HIV social groups.
He was diagnosed in 1989, and though the stigma of HIV isn't as great as it was, it still exists. "The longer people know you, the stigma fades," he said. "They know you as William a person, rather than William with HIV."
But he said living with HIV is still difficult in a small community such as Chester or Rock Hill. "It's hard to live with HIV in this area. In any small town, it would be. It's changed a little bit, but not as much as I hoped it would."
Apathy for prevention
Progress in treatment during the 1990s, when new, more effective drug combinations were introduced, has dramatically improved AIDS survival. But Case said that has also meant many people, especially the young, have become apathetic about precautions to prevent transmission.
"People are still dying. People still die horrible deaths from AIDS," she said. "It takes longer. But I've never seen an AIDS-related death that was easy."
In South Carolina, more than 20,000 people are living with HIV, including about 500 in York County, nearly 200 in Lancaster County and almost 100 in Chester County. Demand for the coalition's services is on the rise, from 192 HIV-positive clients served in 2000 to 370 last year.
Case's goals for the agency include more free HIV testing and greater community visibility and support to reduce the dependence on grants. The agency is supported by federal and state money, private grants, United Way and contributions from private donors and fundraisers.
Case's personal goals include finishing the demanding AIDS Life Cycle ride. On the ride, she will wear jerseys donated by Rock Hill's College Cycle and decorated by the coalition's clients.
She found her ride experience last year helped reinforce her commitment to her work and rejuvenate her passion for making a difference.
She recalls the HIV-positive biker, diagnosed in 1979, who rode with a sign, "Still alive and cycling." Strong, fit riders who pushed less able ones up hills. And volunteers who cheered along the way.
"It was such an amazing experience," Case said. "A reminder of why I do what I do."
For details about the AIDS Life Cycle, visit the Web site, www.aidslifecycle.org. Tax-deductible donations can be made on the Web site to Anita Case; enter participant number 1107. Donations to Case will benefit the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which also supports advocacy efforts and AIDS programs in Africa. Donors will receive a statement in the mail.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.
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