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Photo by Kevin OíConnor Rutland resident Augustus Nasmith Jr. joined some 20,000 participants from 185 countries at the XVIII International AIDS Conference just concluded in Vienna. |
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By Kevin O’Connor
Staff Writer - Published: July 25, 2010
When Augustus Nasmith Jr. arrived in Austria this month, the white-haired Vermonter met a 28-year-old with HIV who bluntly asked his age.
The answer — 66 and counting — gave both of them reason to smile.
Back in 1989, long before the advent of today’s lifesaving drugs, Nasmith himself was diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. Science at the time predicted that, with his blood counts, he might survive two years.
The Rutland resident couldn’t and wouldn’t believe it. Perhaps that’s why, two decades later, he joined the likes of Bill Clinton, Whoopi Goldberg and 20,000 other people from 185 countries at last week’s headline-grabbing XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna.
“In the U.S., some people think AIDS is over or have the misconception there’s now a pill,” Nasmith said in an interview. “The spread of HIV is much more serious in poorer countries, but the problems of denial that fuel the epidemic still exist here.”
On one hand, much has changed since professionals and people with the virus came together for the inaugural conference in Atlanta in 1985 — four years after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered what was then an incurable, fatal disease.
Nasmith, who attended his first global AIDS gathering in Amsterdam in 1992, has received early word on many scientific and social advances as he has traveled the world for successive events. (The conference is so big — with twice as many attendees as the Summer Olympics has athletes — it’s held only once every two years.)
But not everyone is educated about the issue. At least a dozen Vermonters, 50,000 Americans and 2.7 million people in other countries are newly diagnosed annually. Almost 10 percent of the estimated 33 million with HIV/AIDS die each year, ranking the disease as the planet’s leading infectious killer.
“Most of us who are taking medications are grateful but, because of the side effects and costs, would scream very loudly that you don’t want to get infected,” he said. “Unfortunately, as with other problems in our world, it doesn’t seem people really learn.”
That doesn’t deter him, however, from sharing his personal story in hopes of teaching others.
‘I set my goal’
Born in New Jersey during World War II, the man known to friends as Gus deciphered his calling early: “From the age of 14, I set my goal to be involved in international cooperation.”
Perhaps it was hereditary: His father’s family worked as missionaries and diplomats, his mother’s family as educators. Aiming to join the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service, Nasmith earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international relations and passed the necessary entrance exams.
His only obstacle: He realized he was gay and knew the federal government at the time would bar him from service unless he lied about his sexuality.
Staying honest, Nasmith instead went to work for several nongovernmental organizations including the National Academy of Sciences. He traveled to such countries as Brazil, Egypt, Hungry, India, the Philippines and the former Soviet Union — a total of 60 spanning every continent except Antarctica.
In 1989, having flown with his father to visit his grandparents’ former missionary home in China, Nasmith returned to Washington, D.C., to serve as a special adviser to a graduate school roommate, Dante Caputo, who had become president of the United Nations General Assembly.
“It was perhaps the most fulfilling year of my life.”
Then a nagging sore throat drove him to the doctor.
‘Very dark period’
The physician recommended an HIV test.
“Intellectually I thought I was prepared to be positive. But when I got the result, I was stunned.”
Today doctors have drugs to combat AIDS. Two decades ago they didn’t.
“It was a very, very dark period — everyone assumed a rather quick death.”
Life-expectancy charts, based on his low T-cell counts and medical knowledge at the time, gave him two years.
“I didn’t accept that. I remember bargaining in my mind, ‘I think five would be nice.’”
Nasmith sought shelter in family, friends and support groups. He also turned to Dr. Bernie Siegel’s best-selling book “Love, Medicine and Miracles” and the AIDS, Medicine and Miracles program — both of which aim to empower people mentally so they can heal physically.
Nasmith signed up for his first International AIDS Conference in 1992. Harvard University was supposed to host the event in Boston, but federal policy at the time banned people with HIV from entering the country, forcing the event’s transfer to the Netherlands.
There, Nasmith suffered throat ulcers so painful he could barely eat.
“I thought this might be the beginning of the end for me.”
Doesn’t discriminate
Amid the crowd of scientists, physicians and people living with HIV and AIDS, Nasmith learned about a steroid that might help. Finding his doctor in the throng, he requested a prescription and filled it at a Dutch pharmacy.
“Within three days the symptoms had lessened, and I’ve never had that problem again.”
Nasmith since has traveled to Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and now Austria to attend every conference since 1996 — the year he moved to Vermont to be closer to his sister, Nancy Brower.
“I go because, for me, it’s energizing and fulfilling.”
In Vienna, Nasmith watched Goldberg and fellow entertainer Patti LaBelle walk the red carpet at the opening Life Ball and later joined in a “thunderous standing ovation” for Clinton, who delivered a keynote address.
“In the absence of a significant number of political leaders, it was heartening to know that Bill Clinton would be here,” Nasmith e-mailed this newspaper last week. “Leaders of the wealthy G8 countries no doubt avoided the conference because of pressures it would bring not to reduce their AIDS funding. African leaders, with the notable exception of South Africa, rightly may have feared outrage at their odious homophobic policies.”
The Vermonter went on to learn about the latest medical advances (a preventative gel now being tested has proved so promising that The New York Times reported it on its front page Tuesday). He agreed to interview requests from Chinese television. And he networked with a variety of peers who have the disease. Men or women, black or white, gay or straight, AIDS doesn’t discriminate.
“In this exceptionally busy environment, we have connected and become close. That’s one of the joyful aspects. The fact that you see each other. That you’re still here.”
‘A marvelous victory’
Then again, AIDS continues, too. Nasmith reunited with several HIV-positive friends from Kenya, only to learn that a colleague from South Africa recently died of meningitis.
“There are many moments where I am reminded how many of us survivors, whether infected with HIV or not, experience life with appreciation and advocacy for those no longer with us,” he said.
Nasmith has traveled to India and Nepal to promote human rights for sexual and gender minorities. Back home, he campaigns for more health care funding and AIDS education, be it for young people who believe they’re invincible or the Viagra set that wrongly considers itself too old to catch sexually transmitted diseases.
“The fact is, it’s very easy to prevent, but we don’t act upon what we know. That’s the tragedy.”
Nasmith can’t pinpoint the day he stopped wondering how long he’d live. He instead cites the Howard Zinn quote, “The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
The Vermonter savors the small moments. Take when the HIV-positive 28-year-old, a native of Indonesia, asked his age.
“How well I understood that my gray hair and the fact I have been infected since this young man was 1 year old gave him encouragement that his life could be as long as anyone else. When people still think of HIV as a death sentence, I can offer something.”
kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com
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