For the past three years, Mykel Resino has participated in AIDS Walk & Run San Diego. She’s walked to support local HIV services, to fight the stigma associated with HIV and in memory of her brother, Shawn.
For Resino, fighting the stigma of HIV is especially poignant. She believes stigma prevented her brother from getting the HIV services that could have saved his life. And she wants to change that for others.
“The hardest part for me is that he could very well still be here with us,” said Resino. “If he had gotten support, he would have been able to get access to HIV treatment. New HIV treatments probably would have saved him. But I believe stigma prevented Shawn from getting the help he needed and deserved.”
When speaking to Resino, both her affection for her brother and her feelings of loss and regret are palpable.
“There were signs that he was sick, but our family didn’t talk about it. He was really thin and he had some skin lesions,” she explains. “He seemed to be in denial about his health and was trying herbal remedies. I wish I had tried to talk to him.”
In 2008, Shawn contracted an aggressive strain of pneumonia that forced him into the hospital. At the hospital, Resino and her family found out he had HIV. Weakened by HIV and pneumonia, Shawn’s illness had progressed too far and he died within two weeks of his hospitalization.
For Resino, the loss of her brother was devastating, and it made her examine the burden that her brother likely grappled with as a gay man facing an HIV diagnosis.
“We’ll never know if my brother knew he had HIV and kept it a secret or if he just didn’t want to know because it was too hard to face the stigma of HIV,” she said. “My brother wouldn’t have wanted to face the judgment of people telling him that it was his fault or that his ‘lifestyle” wasn’t a good choice.”
Shawn was an out gay man, which strained some relationships within their family. Resino thinks that her brother seemed self-conscious and uncomfortable, and that he became distant because of the undercurrent of disapproval.
“For many reasons, I don’t think my brother felt safe about being gay. But, the stigma around being gay and HIV positive was even greater,” she explains.
In addition to the stigma associated with HIV, Resino believes that her brother faced the burden of facing a serious illness without having health insurance.
“He didn’t have a lot of money at the time, or health insurance. Regardless, I believe our family would have helped, but I think he was afraid to depend on us or be judged,” she said. “It is painful to think that he had to face this illness alone. I feel like I let him down. Even though he was older than me, I was really the right person to have talked to him about HIV.”
With a greater insight into the challenges and fear that HIV likely caused her brother’s death, Resino is resolute in her commitment to AIDS Walk & Run San Diego as a way to combat the stigma associated with HIV and to show support for the 20,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in San Diego County.
“I can’t do anything for my brother now, but if I can support people facing HIV, I’ll do it,” explained Resino. “AIDS Walk moves the conversation about HIV into the mainstream. It directly addresses HIV stigma by showing people that there are services, new medications and people wanting to help. AIDS Walk makes facing this disease not so dark.
“I want people to know that HIV is a disease like diabetes or heart disease – and it can happen to anyone. Everyone deserves support with any illness they are facing. You shouldn’t be left alone to handle any illness by yourself, regardless if your illness happens to HIV.”
Having just given birth, Resino will participate this year as a virtual walker. She’s been raising funds with her St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral team, and will certainly be there in spirit.
“AIDS Walk is such a beautiful event. It’s been a supportive and healing experience for me. The cheering crowds of people walking together are inspiring,” she said. “Now, I do The Walk as a way to help others – and I remember my brother. I believe in an afterlife. I believe my brother knows what I am doing. It is the only way I have now to show him that I understood his struggle – and that I love him.” About AIDS Walk & Run San Diego
The 27th annual AIDS Walk & Run San Diego will take place Saturday, Sept. 24, featuring a 5K Walk and a four-mile run. The run starts at 7:30 a.m., and the Walk will step off at 7:35 a.m. The start and finish lines will be located at Normal and Harvey Milk streets, in the heart of Hillcrest.
The largest HIV/AIDS fundraiser in San Diego County, AIDS Walk & Run provided grants to 16 community-based HIV/AIDS service providers in San Diego County last year. Those funding recipients include Being Alive, Christie’s Place, Family Health Centers, Fraternity House, Mama’s Kitchen, North County LGBTQ Resource Center, Pozabilities, San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, San Diego Youth Services, San Ysidro Health Center, Stepping Stone, Strength of the Journey, The arcHIVe Project, Townspeople, UCSD and the Vista Community Clinic.
AIDS Walk also supports The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s #BeTheGeneration campaign, an effort to end new HIV infections by diminishing the stigma associated with HIV, increasing access and utilization of HIV testing and treatment options, including PrEP and PEP (pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis) and strengthening prevention and education efforts.
Targeted and culturally competent HIV education and prevention programs are vitally important components of the work to end HIV. San Diego has the third largest number of HIV and AIDS cases in California; a state that has the second largest number of HIV and AIDS cases in the nation. According to the San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency, the majority of new HIV/AIDS cases in the past five years have been among people of color.
AIDS Walk & Run San Diego was established in 1989 as a vehicle to raise awareness about the impact of the disease, as well as vital funds for HIV/AIDS service providers – a mission it still fulfills. Since its inception, AIDS Walk has raised more $9.5 million for local HIV/AIDS service organizations. Prior to 1989, the event was known as the Walk for Life.
It’s not too late to register (as a walker, runner or virtual walker) or donate to AIDS Walk. More information, and online registration, is available at aidswalksd.org.
