Joanie

My dearest friend Joanie, what a amazing person she was. She had such a zest for life. I knew her for only about 5 years, but it was the best 5 years I could have asked for.

She contracted AIDS from a old boyfriend who was a drug user, she lived with it for 8 years before the disease took her life, which was about 10 years ago. At the time, the cocktail or combination of drugs that are given out today, were not available to her. About 2 years before she died, she was diagnosed with tongue cancer, she chose to go the chemo/radiation route, as a operation would have required part of her tongue to be removed. She knew the odds, she knew that she might not be able to handle the chemo/radiation, but she would have rather taken her chances, then have part of her tongue removed, which would have affected her speech greatly.

I was with her every step of they way, I watched, I cared, I cried, I held her, it was the only thing I could do, as I could not cure her. She went thru the treatments like a trooper, still going to work and doing her daily activities. They said they got most of the cancer out, however her immune system was zero. She could not even fight the common cold. She eventually stopped eating and a feeding tube was put in place. In her last weeks her T cell count was 14, the normal T cell count is between 500 and 1600, I remember when she told me, we were in her hospital room in the bathroom, I was helping her get washed up. She looked me in in the face and gave me the dreaded news. No other words were spoken, I just hugged her, we both knew.

The AIDS lesions grew like wildflowers and planted themselves on her weak body, she could not fight them. So to soothe them, we used the aloe plant. She told me when the aloe touched her skin, she felt cool relief. She described the relief as it being a hot summer day in Brooklyn when she was little, and the kids turned the water hydrant on, she would run into the water, and the cool water gave her the relief she needed.

She passed peacefully, no more pain for her. She was finally able to rest.

I think of her often, actually everyday, the aloe plants sit in my office by the window and soak up the sun. She loved the sun, and so do the aloe plants.