- The well-known HIV/AIDS activist and survivor Hydeia Broadbent passed suddenly at the age of 39. Doctors at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, where Broadbent was left for dead at the age of five because of her HIV status and crack use, thought she would not survive into childhood. Her adoptive parents, Loren and Patricia Broadbent, discovered three years after she was adopted that she was HIV positive. Despite having congenital HIV, she did not get an HIV-positive diagnosis or an AIDS diagnosis until she was three years old.
- Notwithstanding her situation, Broadbent overcame it to leave a lasting legacy and use her story to inspire and educate millions of people. Her family released the book “You Get Past The Tears” in 2002. She was well-known for sharing her experiences as a motivational speaker across the world. Since 2014, Broadbent has advocated for safe-sex practices, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, abstinence, and other HIV/AIDS-related causes on behalf of the Magic Johnson Foundation and other AIDS activist groups.
- Her stated goal was to educate people about HIV/AIDS and start conversations about it in churches, schools, households, and communities. She utilized her life as a tool for prevention, empowering those who were HIV-negative to make choices that would keep them that way and inspiring those who were living with HIV/AIDS to keep going for their best lives despite the disease.
- Since Broadbent felt that if one is conscious and informed, one might face the same sickness, her testimony serves as a warning of what one does not want to go through. Her passing serves as a warning that anybody, from any background, can contract the same sickness.
Source:
Essence
