Learning To Live With Aids

Save your sympathy. Kevin Ford doesn’t want it or expect it. After nine years in Coeur d’Alene, Kevin knows people with AIDS need steel backbones. His is just stronger than most.

“I consider AIDS a part of what my body is carrying,” he says matter-of-factly. “I don’t look at it as an obstacle. I have a positive attitude.”

Kevin, who says he’s in his 40s, has lived with AIDS for 11 years and plans to live much longer. He’s trying to teach other people with AIDS to take control of their lives.

“I want people to realize they can deal with it,” he says, his dark eyes sincere. “They have the power to live.”

His task grows every year as the number of reported AIDS cases in the state grows. This year, there are 53 people with AIDS living between Lewiston and the Canadian border.

Tonight at 6:30 for World AIDS Day, Kevin and others will march for those people. With candles in hand, they’ll wind through downtown Coeur d’Alene to the Fort Sherman chapel to tell the community AIDS still is here.

“This community needs to be more open about the issue,” Kevin says. “People are very private here.”

Talk helps. That’s one reason Kevin joined the North Idaho AIDS Coalition five years ago. He found people who lived with AIDS, watched family and friends die from AIDS, wanted to talk about AIDS. That support strengthened him.

He also found people who needed him. They lived alone with their AIDS in shuttered homes, overwhelmed and afraid.

“I keep them company, talk to them, touch them. They appreciate it,” he says. He’s had some speech and nerve problems, but looks fit and strong now. He doesn’t see himself in the dying people he befriends.

“I want to live and I think they do, too,” Kevin says. “They just need to know how much attitude has to do with it.”

Applause, applause

The late state Sen. Vern Lannen would’ve approved. The two men the Panhandle Health District chose to share the senator’s namesake public health award this year are humble, hard workers true to their neighbors.

Frank Bacon in Kellogg lobbies for seniors and drives them where they need to go, even though he’s been fighting cancer for four years.

Mark Todd in St. Maries runs a business but takes time to keep the area’s home health care program in good shape. He lobbies for money and promotes home health at every opportunity. This pair would be welcome in any community.

Wonder dog

Halley the golden retriever is 10, pleasantly plump and nearly crippled with arthritis. Still, she gives her all for her fellow canines. She is a regular blood donor at Sunset Animal Hospital in Coeur d’Alene where her owner, Rick Hutton, is a vet.

Halley deserves five Purple Hearts for the five dogs she’s saved, Rick says. When he needs blood, he anesthetizes Halley and takes a unit. He spoils her later to stay on her good side. Heroes come in all shapes.

Christmas rush

Just when we finished the shopping and wrapping, the rush began. It was Christmas Eve at my parents’ house until 3 a.m., then Christmas morning bright and early at my in-laws’. Neither family was ready to break tradition, but the pace was breaking our spirit.

We left town before our children were swept into the holiday hurricane. But sometime soon they’ll have their own tugs-of-war between us and their in-laws.

What’s the most bizarre schedule you’ve had to keep during the holidays and how did you fix it? Moan to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; send a fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo