AIDS Victim Establishing Special Camp
By Roger LaLonde
Staff Writer

"Infected and affected children of AIDS need a place to vent their emotions and to understand how to cope with this most serious life situation." 

That's what Cathy Robinson thinks about developing a Friends-Together Camp for kids and young adults who often live in an isolated world because of their illness, or a sibling or parent's illness. 

"For the most part, infected and affected children need to understand it is not their fault," Robinson said. "It's not unusual for them not to be told, or that they keep it a secret because of what others will think." 

Robinson and her husband Dan know first-hand the crushing news of learning by surprise that they were HIV positive in 1991 and have developed AIDS.

In 1991 she was leading what she termed a storybook life with her husband, 11-month-old daughter Lyndsy and pregnant with soon-to-be son Garrett.

She found out when she and her husband Dan went to the doctor for what was to be a routine physical examination for life insurance. 

They were infected with the HIV virus and both developed Aids in three years. Neither of the Robinson children have been infected by the disease. 

Robinson found that she had contracted HIV from a man who died in prison while doing time for raping her on July 4, 1984, at a Tallahassee convenience store where she was employed. 

Florida does not mandate HIV testing in criminal sexual assault cases. Privacy laws prohibited the prison from disclosing to Robinson that the man had AIDS. Just two years ago she also was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is taking AIDS medication and undergoing radiation treatments for her cancer. 

Her husband Dan has been very sick in recent years and Robinson teamed with friend Steve Pickett to found Friends-Together that is 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," she said. 

She also has gone public, speaking to schools and any organization that will allow her to speak about the danger of AIDS, stressing the importance of safe sex and HIV testing. 

It was at one of her school talks that she came upon the idea of a summer camp. "I was talking with the students about my disease, discussing how friends can help a peer have a normal life without fear of disclosing the disease and about how many parents don't even tell their children when they have AIDS, or have passed the disease to their children," she said. 

As part of the talk, Robinson opened her pill box and showed the students what she was taking. "Following the talk a teen-ager came up to me and opened his hands, showing that he was taking the same pills," she said. "His parents had told him that he had cancer. That was the first time he (teen-ager) realized that he had HIV." She also spoke of a teen-ager in West Palm Beach who was sent away when her mother was dying and did not learn how her mother died until the funeral. "In despair she jumped in front of a train," Robinson said. 

"Children need to know what is going on with their parents, with themselves, no matter what the disease. They also need to be able to feel secure enough to tell others. We hope that the camp will be the answer for infected and affected children to find a way to live without keeping their disease or their sibling's disease a secret. It may sound strange, but everyone deserves a chance to live as normal a life as possible." 

Robinson expects the first camp to have 10 to 15 children, or young adults. "We want to make sure they get personalized attention," she said. The week will start off with some fun events, with campers getting to know each other. It will be followed by building coping skills, while also allowing grief counseling. 

"Kids diagnosed with HIV are living longer, they are graduating from high school," she said. "They need to be prepared to make adult decisions, they need to be able to tell their friends, their boy friend, with a comfort level that will allow them to move forward with their life." 

Robinson is seeking a grant for the camp, along with private and public donations. She hopes the notoriety she receives from being announced one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans this month will help with her fund raising. She was nominated by the Naples Junior Chamber of Commerce and selected through a national judging. The camp is to be held in mid-summer, with the location to be decided soon. "Hopefully other camp sites that already deal with children with illnesses or handicaps will allow us to use their facilities because they usually have a ready-made medical system," Robinson said. 

She already has received volunteer requests and hopes to get more from publicity generated by her efforts. She wants others trained to carry on her mission when she is unable to do so herself. 

"This is not about my life, but on the lives we can touch," she said.