Saturday, December 16, 2000
By RACHELLE BOTT, Staff Writer
NORTH NAPLES — They've heard it all before.
But now, more than ever, Cathy Robinson's message about the danger of unprotected sex is sticking in Collier County students' minds.
Robinson, 35, has been living with HIV and AIDS for more than 16 years. And she recently made the decision to stop taking medication and live her life with "quality, not quantity."
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"I could get something today and die before Valentine's Day," Robinson told hundreds of Gulf Coast High School students Friday. "I do what I can for my children. I want them to be able to hold their heads up proud. . ."
After her nearly hour-long speech, students offered their thanks to Robinson for sharing her story and message. There were hugs and even a few tears.
"It was very moving. It certainly made me think about a lot of things," junior Jessica Valle said. "I made the decision to not do anything until I was married. This (speech) has concreted that decision."
The Fort Myers woman travels around Southwest Florida daily talking with students about sex and AIDS. Her talk comes from the heart and from experience of living with AIDS.
"This is free therapy for me," Robinson said.
Robinson and her husband, Dan, learned they had the AIDS virus after undergoing routine physicals when they were buying life-insurance policies in 1991.
"My first reaction was, 'Well I know where I've been. What about you?' " Robinson told the audience.
But then she remembered a tragic event that had happened to her earlier. While working at a Tallahassee convenience store in 1984, Robinson was robbed and raped.
She later learned she had contracted the disease from the suspect, who died in prison from AIDS complications. Privacy laws prohibited the prison system from telling Robinson that the inmate had AIDS.
When Robinson discovered she had AIDS, she already had a daughter, Lyndsy, now 10, and was expecting a second child, son Garrett, now 9.
"I'm very lucky as a mother that they didn't contract the virus from me," Robinson told the audience.
Her son's birth was a life-altering experience in more ways than one. At the hospital, three nurses refused to help deliver her baby. And one nurse — not knowing anything about the Robinsons — called the state Department of Children and Families to report the couple for child abuse. The nurse assumed the couple was having a baby despite the fact that they had AIDS.
It's reactions like that of the nurse that motivated Robinson to tell her story.
Robinson used to visit health classes individually, but not speak to large groups because of her declining health.
Her husband has always been the one who has struggled more with his disease. He takes 104 pills a day — not including vitamins — to fight it. Robinson lived a fairly healthy life until April 1998, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She was treated for the cancer. But then on World AIDS Day 1999, Robinson was diagnosed a second time with breast cancer. Until recently, she has taken radiation therapy to treat the cancer.
Doctors told her the therapy wasn't working. That's when she made the choice to live out her life — however long that may be — without medication.
"I don't need a pity party," Robinson told the students. "I want you to understand this could be your mother, your aunt, your grandmother or your friends up here."
People living with HIV and AIDS need love, comfort and support of their friends and family, Robinson told the audience.
Along with telling her story, Robinson educates and entertains her audience. While spouting statistics and facts, such as that a person can transmit HIV within 30 minutes of contracting it, Robinson also popped a few jokes and tested the students' knowledge.
"Besides blood, semen and vaginal fluid, what are the other three fluids that transmit the virus?" Robinson asked.
"Synovial fluid," Earl Campbell, a senior, shouted out.
"Ooh. We have a smart one," Robinson said, joking about Campbell's interest in becoming a surgeon one day.
Campbell later said he had heard Robinson speak before, but "she gets better each time I hear her."
"She is a powerful speaker. She is very straightforward and open about stuff," Campbell said.
Robinson said she has to be straightforward, so young people have the true facts and can make a wise decision.
"But if you come to me and say you made a mistake, I will hug you and love you. Everyone makes poor decisions sometimes," she said.
Along with her talks, Robinson has started a foundation called Friends Together. The organization is dedicated to raising money to bring much-needed prevention messages to groups regardless of their ability to pay.
Friends Together is also dedicated to serving the HIV-infected community through training geared to helping the individual, caregivers and family members with strategies to cope with and live with the disease.
Another mission Robinson has is to start summer camps for those infected with and affected by the AIDS virus.
She lives in Fort Myers, but her two children are living with their grandparents in Clewiston to start a transition for the inevitable, she said.
"We know our children are going to be orphans of AIDS," Robinson said. "But we want them to be able to be proud and say, 'My mom and dad had AIDS.'"
