Cured of AIDS
Did you read about the baby girl, born in Mississippi to a woman with HIV, who was found with HIV in her blood shortly after birth? Care providers quickly started the infant on a full set of three HIV medicines (usually, only one or two are used in exposed babies to prevent infection).
The medicines were continued for 18 months, but then the mother and child went missing from care. When they returned after almost five months without medicines, no evidence of active HIV infection was found in the child. The medical team performed an exhaustive array of tests to try to confirm the prior presence of HIV and its subsequent eradication, and to rule out rare forms of resistance to HIV infection. Their medical doctor and the media have now declared this child “cured” of AIDS!
It’s really a broad jump to say that this baby was cured. In fact what happened to this baby is what would happen to ALL babies of HIV infected mothers if given the AIDS medications. The chances for an HIV+ mother to give birth to an HIV+ baby are about 30% or about 1 in 3 children born. With proper medical care and medication before the birth that can be dropped to about 1%. But even with DNA tests being done at birth, the chances are very high that the antibodies found in the babies blood stream for HIV where still a residue of his or her mother’s virus. The truth is no one really knows if the baby was HIV+ to begin with. If anything, as Dr. Marc Siedner of Harvard Medical School said, “It seems more likely that her treatment prevented her, after exposure to HIV, from being infected.”
So the great news is that this toddler is showing signs of being HIV negative but the truth is probably not really “cured”.
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The Family Grows!!
With over 16 million AIDS orphans in the world, the need for someone, anyone, to help them is huge! He Intends Victory through our outreach, Terry’s Kids, is committed to helping all of those AIDS orphans that we can. But where do you start? And can we really make a difference?
Those were both questions I asked the Lord while on my first trip to Africa in 2001. I was in a remote village in Central Uganda called Nagamuli in with my HIV co-workers, Herb Hall and Mike McIntrye. We were there to “spy out the land”, that is to see if the ministry of He Intends Victory would work in Africa. The three hours over bumpy dirt roads and trails it took to get to this village were quickly forgotten as soon as I saw the 200+ mostly women and children dancing as we approached. They were happy to see us, that was for sure. AIDS, this far out of the city? Yes, many of the men in this village had already died and their infected widows were doing the best they could to raise their 2 or 3 or 6 children. But when you have no visible support, when you are as a mother are yourself sick with HIV infection, when you have no money to buy seed or food, even having an acre of land doesn’t help much. And then what happens when ‘mom’ finally dies? Where do the children go? When the disappointment that we were not doctors finally subsided, the joy that we were pastors prompted the women to bring their tiny, sickly babies to us for prayer. It wasn’t long before I heard in my heart that soft and gentle voice of the Holy Spirit, “Start with the one in front of you”. It was a privlilege to pray and know that we could do more to help these helpless children as we wept through our words to God and it was there in our hearts that Terry’s Kids was birthed.
Terry Duffy being interviewed by Dan Wooding
Terry Duffy was Board member, friend, sister in Jesus, and committed to helping people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS all over the world. But Terry never had any children of her own so all kids became Terry’s Kids. And when she finally went home to heaven from cancer in July of 2002, it made sense to honor her memory and her love for AIDS orphans by calling our AIDS orphan sponsorship program, Terry’s Kids.
For the last five years we have been blessed to have Terry’s Kids working in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, India, and Paraguay. Today we have over 50 children sponsored who are now able to go to school, wear a school uniform and shoes, eat healthy food every day and all in the name of Jesus! One great thing about Terry’s Kids, unlike all other AIDS orphans programs is that ALL of the $ 40 a month to sponsor a child through our outreach goes to the child’s needs!
So as of January 1, 2013 we are pleased to share that we have now added Tanzania and Nepal to our Terry’s Kids countries.
This will soon make our potential a total of 200 children! Yet most of our children are waiting and praying for someone, anyone to care. Please don’t think that that is the total number of children under the He Intends Victory umbrella who could qualify for this program. I recently asked our 20 Country Directors what the total number of children under their care is for whom Terry’s Kids could help. The answer was 11,056! It can’t be that many!! But it is. Then the question comes to my mind, “Can we really make a difference?” And the Lord spoke to my heart and I heard, “If each of you will care on my behalf, you can change the world for these children!” There it was. Just start with the one in front of you and little by little, child by child, we will make a difference!
Do you want to hear what they say? Stephen from Uganda says to his sponsor, “I want to thank God for you and the help you always give. I thank you because I have been able to go on with my studies and I have been promoted to Primary 7.” Yeabsira from Ethiopia says, “Now I am a grade one student. I love you, I love my mom. I love my studies. How are your studies? I thank you for your support. I am very thankful for your being my sponsor. I pray for God to bless you and your family.” And Resty a young teenager from Uganda says, “ I can’t begin to thank you for your continuous support towards my future.”
Our goal this year, 2013, is to have 200 children sponsored. It wouldn’t hard. It’s the equivalent of 8 Starbucks or 2 movies and a popcorn. We COULD do it- together.
So go to Terry’sKids.org and sign up today. Pray about which child, which country you want to change, which lives you want to touch with God’s love. Then sign-up. You’ll get a letter from that child, you’ll get photo, and you’ll have the knowledge in your heart that the someone who cares for that AIDS orphan is YOU!
Read MoreWATCH: Toseka by Kids of HIV Uganda
BUY at iTunes – Toseka by Kids of HIV Uganda
Would you like to support Terrys Kids, the AIDS orphans of Uganda? By purchasing this CD they have recorded, they hope to raise awareness of the disease and raise funds to support the ministry that helps them live, everyday. Won’t you please help spread the hope of Jesus Christ, to those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.
World AIDS Day 2012
Today is World AIDS Day. I am not sure how many people know that. It is a topic that is not really talked about anymore. Even the news barely mentions it. You would hope it is because HIV/AIDS has been cured or that very few people have it. Surely it is because no one dies from it anymore, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In the last 3 months, I have lost two friends to AIDS. Both were women, one in her thirties and one in her forties. One left behind a six year old son who is now orphaned by AIDS. His father died from it 5 years ago. These precious women had very different stories, but both had tremendous faith and courage. I have many friends living with HIV and they are truly some of the bravest people I know.
You would think the number of cases of those living with HIV has gone down since we don’t hear about it, but the number has not gone down. It continues to rise. Worldwide, there are 40 million people living with the disease. There are about 1.2 million cases in the United States. In a study done last year, Jacksonville was shown to be number three in the top 25 cities of HIV cases in the United States. Jacksonville has more cases than New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago. And these are just the known cases. There are a lot of people walking around without knowing their status.
The above information might disturb you some, but to me, what is more alarming is how the stigma has remained after all these years. People still remain very secretive about their HIV status, living in fear of who may or may not find out. People are still rejected by churches, friends and family because they are HIV positive. People would rather say they have cancer than to admit they are HIV positive.
In the last six years, I have learned so much about this disease. I have been blessed to meet modern day heroes fighting this battle, spreading awareness and more importantly the love of Jesus. A lot of them do this all while fighting the disease themselves. They know firsthand the struggles that come with the medications, the stigma and the fear. I really do feel blessed to be a part of this ministry. It can definitely be discouraging, though. I have felt much disappointment, confusion and even anger. More importantly, though, I am learning to trust. I have seen God move in amazing and beautiful ways. He is teaching me that sometimes the harder it is, the more important it is. If I invite 100 to come and only one shows up, that one matters!! I am learning to never give up. John Gardener said “We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” This is how I see AIDS. It is an opportunity from God for the church to be the church, to show up when no one else will. It is quite beautiful if you think about it. As you pray, please keep the AIDS community locally and worldwide in mind. Pray for those living with it, for those searching for a cure for it and for those in ministries here and around the world. Thanks for reading this. Thanks for being a part of this ministry in one way or another. I love you all so much.
PS- Don’t forget to wear red today. Spread the word.
Britney Fluharty
