Results: Hydeia Broadbent, AIDS activist, dies at age 39

Hydeia Broadbent was six weeks old when she was taken in by Loren and Patricia Broadbent after being abandoned at a Las Vegas hospital by her biological mother. Within 3 years she was diagnosed with AIDS, and became the the face of children with AIDS in America. She appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Maury Povich Show," "Good Morning America" and numerous other programs. Are you familiar with this woman?

When she was 3, the family learned a woman with the same last name as Hydeia had also given to birth to a boy at the same hospital where she was born, and left the child there. Both the mother and child tested positive for AIDS. The family had Hydeia tested and she was positive as well. Without treatment, 25 to 30% of babies born to a mother living with HIV will get HIV. However, if mothers are aware of their HIV infection and treated along with their infants, the chances of the infant getting HIV are less than 2%. Hydeia became a fixture in HIV/AIDS advocacy before medications became available that could make living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a more manageable chronic illness. Are you aware that AIDS can be passed on through the mother to the baby?

Hydeia dedicated her life to activism and became a change agent in the HIV/AIDS fight. By speaking out at such a young age, she helped so many people, young and old, because she wasn't afraid to share her story and allowed everyone to see that those living with HIV and AIDS were everyday people and should be treated with respect. She continued to speak about HIV/Aids as an adult, seeking to fight misinformation and increase awareness about available treatments and ways to stop transmission of the virus. She worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the Let's Stop HIV Together campaign and launched the Hydeia L Broadbent Foundation. Despite her many challenges in life, she never stopped championing the cause for others. Do you admire this woman?

Her death, on February 20 of this year was in itself a triumph, as her family was told she probably wouldn't live past age 5. At age 12, she addressed the Republican National Convention with a poem declaring, " "I am the future, and I have AIDS. I can do anything I put my mind to. I am the next doctor. I am the next lawyer. I am the next Maya Angelou. I might even be the first woman president. … You can't crush my dream. I am the future, and I have AIDS." Do you know anyone who is living with HIV/AIDS right now?