Post by purplejacket on Jul 29, 2008 13:31:28 GMT -5
Hi Everyone,
I am currently in training to be a cyclist in the AIDS Ride For Life, sponsored by the Souther Tier AIDS Program (STAP), scheduled this year for September 13.
This is a charity-century ride, so I have to raise a certain amount of dough, and then ride 100 miles (ow!) around Cayuga Lake. I did the ride 2 years ago, but had a million things going on last year. Last time I rode, I had 2 friends with me, but this year I may be on my own (not sure about Katie).
Why ride for AIDS?
There are approximately 1000 people living in my area (NY Southern Tier) with HIV/AIDS. In 2005, "The estimated lifetime cost of treating an HIV positive person [was] at least $195,188." I tried to find the cost of treatment per year, per patient, and they varied from ~$3,000/year to ~$7,000/year. But that's only part of the reason.
I was pen-pals with Ryan White. Sort of. OK, probably not. I grew up in the Ryan White era of HIV/AIDS. When you are a child, your imagination might confuse things, and I am not sure what is memory and what is imagination in the following story. I know that I went outside one day and saw something blue on my lawn. I was ~8-9 years old, so this was ~1984-5. A classroom somewhere west of me had attached little notes to helium balloons and let them go (litterbugs!). The note requested that I write a letter to become pen pals with a boy I am sure was named Ryan. I know that the chances of me being pen pals with The Ryan White is approximately impossible. Ryan White was diagnosed with HIV in 1984 and promptly kicked out of school. I know I took the note to school to show my teacher and friends, and that I was briefly pen-pals with the Ryan who'd sent the card. With the name "Ryan White" in the news around the same time, I probably just turned my Ryan into The Ryan in my head.
Regardless, the Ryan White story was one of the first news stories I connected with. Here's his wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_White
So, if you'd like to help me raise money for people living with HIV/AIDS in New York State, please go here to make a safe, fast, secure donation:
www.firstgiving.com/amandamanfredo
If you're not comfortable with online monetary exchange, you can also send me a check made out to STAP. If you need my address let me know.
thank you very much.
Mandy
I am currently in training to be a cyclist in the AIDS Ride For Life, sponsored by the Souther Tier AIDS Program (STAP), scheduled this year for September 13.
This is a charity-century ride, so I have to raise a certain amount of dough, and then ride 100 miles (ow!) around Cayuga Lake. I did the ride 2 years ago, but had a million things going on last year. Last time I rode, I had 2 friends with me, but this year I may be on my own (not sure about Katie).
Why ride for AIDS?
There are approximately 1000 people living in my area (NY Southern Tier) with HIV/AIDS. In 2005, "The estimated lifetime cost of treating an HIV positive person [was] at least $195,188." I tried to find the cost of treatment per year, per patient, and they varied from ~$3,000/year to ~$7,000/year. But that's only part of the reason.
I was pen-pals with Ryan White. Sort of. OK, probably not. I grew up in the Ryan White era of HIV/AIDS. When you are a child, your imagination might confuse things, and I am not sure what is memory and what is imagination in the following story. I know that I went outside one day and saw something blue on my lawn. I was ~8-9 years old, so this was ~1984-5. A classroom somewhere west of me had attached little notes to helium balloons and let them go (litterbugs!). The note requested that I write a letter to become pen pals with a boy I am sure was named Ryan. I know that the chances of me being pen pals with The Ryan White is approximately impossible. Ryan White was diagnosed with HIV in 1984 and promptly kicked out of school. I know I took the note to school to show my teacher and friends, and that I was briefly pen-pals with the Ryan who'd sent the card. With the name "Ryan White" in the news around the same time, I probably just turned my Ryan into The Ryan in my head.
Regardless, the Ryan White story was one of the first news stories I connected with. Here's his wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_White
So, if you'd like to help me raise money for people living with HIV/AIDS in New York State, please go here to make a safe, fast, secure donation:
www.firstgiving.com/amandamanfredo
If you're not comfortable with online monetary exchange, you can also send me a check made out to STAP. If you need my address let me know.
thank you very much.
Mandy
