Estimated reading time: 20 minute(s)
Originally published 11.13.10
(November is America’s National HIV/AIDS Awareness month. 26-year-old Hydeia Broadbent was adopted as an infant by Patricia and Loren Broadbent. She contracted the immune system-destroying disease from her drug addicted biological mother. Doctors predicted that she would not live past the age of five and as a result became the test baby for HIV/AIDS medications. She has defied the odds by more than 20 years, which she says is valid proof that HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence.
Ms. Broadbent debuted as an International HIV/AIDS activist and public speaker at the age of six. She has been featured on shows such as Oprah and has received countless awards including BET’s 2010 Black Girls Rock Community Service award. I went one-on-one with her about living with the disease, her critical message to young girls and the need for the Black community to wake up.)
Brother Jesse Muhammad (BJ): At what point in time did you first understand fully that you were HIV positive and how did it have an impact on you?
Hydeia Broadbent (HB): Well, I always knew that I had AIDS because it was never a secret. My mother and father would talk about it openly as a child. There was never a certain age where I said, “Oh, wow. I have AIDS.” It was just like, being a little girl or being a little boy and you get older, you just realize the different thing about yourself. So, as I got older, I started to understand and deal with different issues that I may have been having. But, I always knew it because my family never kept it a secret.
My biological mother passed it on to me at birth. We believe it was because she was an IV drug user or just being promiscuous.
BJ: Tell me about the parents that adopted you. At what age were you adopted?
HB: Well, when they adopted me they didn’t know that I had AIDS. They basically just took me in because I needed a home and I was a drug addicted baby. They found out when I was three years old because a sibling was born infected and the state of Nevada called my adopted parents and asked them to get me tested. In the late 80’s there were a lot of people contracting AIDS and they weren’t too sure how it was spread and there was just so much hysteria going on that anyone in a high risk category, they wanted them to get tested, so they tested my biological mom.
BJ: I read that the doctors actually said that you were not supposed to live past 5 years old. Was it the medication that you were taking that helped you to survive this long?
HB: That is correct. I started going to NIH which is the National Institute for Health and in the late 80’s, there wasn’t any medication for women or children. There were only research hospitals that you could go to. So, basically, my family decided to sign me up as a human guinea pig because that was the only care that they could get and they knew that the doctors would monitor my health really close. That’s the only choice my mom really had and I believe that it saved my life.
BJ: What is it like in the day to day life of a girl your age who is HIV positive?
HB: Well, my day to day life is pretty normal. Some days I wake up and I’m perfectly fine. Some days, I’m traveling, speaking about HIV/AIDS. Some days, I’m sick and can’t get out of bed because of the side effects from my medication. Every day is different. Sometimes, I have good days and sometimes I have bad days but right now my health is pretty good so I’m okay.
BJ: You’ve appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America and so many other shows. What made you want to step out like this? You know there are some people who are HIV positive who want to hide it or not talk about it. What has been your driving force?
HB: My friends weren’t being public about the fact that they had AIDS and I basically started speaking because I wanted my friends to know that there was nothing wrong with them and that this was not something that they had to hide because that’s not the way I was raised. That’s why I started speaking and then my speech kind of turned into prevention because so many people were becoming infected, not knowing the behavior that they were taking part in might put them at risk.
For me, it’s sometimes therapy to get up, to express my feelings. There are times when I hope or I pray that somebody in the audience who is listening that it gives them the power to change their lifestyle or if they are living with AIDS that they change their attitude to a positive one and know that life is not over.
BJ: America is in a sexual revolution. Young people are so caught up in it with TV, watching videos, their friends and peers. When you are talking to young girls, what are you particularly driving home to them?
HB: When I was younger, I suffered with low self esteem and stages of depression so now being twenty-six, knowing who I am as a woman and knowing my self-worth, I am really about empowering young women, being a positive role model and letting people know that you can fall. You can fall flat on your face, because I have done it a number of times. But it’s about what you do once you get back up. Nobody can keep you on the ground, only you can keep yourself down. So, I charge them with being responsible for their health, having pride and finding a way to build their self esteem.
BJ: From a Black community standpoint, what is it that you think is lacking or we need to do more better in discussing and keeping HIV/AIDS at the forefront of conversation in our community?
HB: First of all, we need to get off the mindset that AIDS is a gay disease. It is 2010 and we still believe that it is a gay disease. Also, we need to get out of the blame game. We need to stop blaming each other and learn to work together to stop the spread of AIDS, because AIDS has hit the African American community harder than any other community.
As an African American, people should be outraged that it’s not in the news, that it’s not in the media, that it’s not in the schools, and that people are not learning prevention. It’s not in our communities anymore! When African Americans make up 12% of the population but over 50% of HIV/AIDS cases and while HIV/AIDS affects everybody, it’s affecting the African American community harder than everybody else. So, I really feel that people need to be outraged. They need to demand more programs. They need to demand more funding for prevention programs in their communities. We really, really need to wake up. Like one of my mentors, Phil Wilson said, “If we learned one thing from Katrina it was that they are not going to send the boat for us on time.” So, we need to work together within our community and help stop the spread of AIDS.
BJ: What’s next for you in the upcoming years in your efforts to spread HIV/AIDS awareness?
HB: Right now, I’m developing programs to be launched later on in 2011, and I’m also working as a consultant with social workers, developing programs for youth who are born with HIV/AIDS because I am part of the first generation of children born. So as an adult, now I can answer some of the questions like, “Will I really live past my teens? “or “Will I really find love?” or “Will I really be okay?”
Those are some things I am working on and continuing to speak about HIV/AIDS with the different community organizations and speaking at different schools. I’m just going to continue to be out there spreading my message as long as the numbers of people that are becoming infected is going up.
BJ: Thank you.
(For more information about Hydeia Broadbent at www.hydeiabroadbent.com)
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Photo Credits: Jesse Muhammad
