A Survivor's Guide for Single Women [Paperback]

Barbara Choser Cusack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2001

Barbara shares what she has experienced on how to become a Survivor after learning she was HIV+ and was widowed at age thirty-three after eight years of marriage.

The book has helpful insights and tips on how to deal with being a single woman alone, living with a dreaded disease. Both male or female who are in similar situations can benefit and be encouraged by Barbara's inspiring story.

A useful tool for students and HIV/AIDS support groups.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A wonderful response from within and without the HIV/AIDS community and students taking the AIDS/HIV classes at UCF.
--Y Choser, Publisher

From the Inside Flap

Introduction

In September 1996, my husband Dan and I were diagnosed with AIDS and HIV, respectively. In March 1997, I became a young widow. Watching the television show “Survivor” made me start thinking about how I am surviving being a young widow with HIV.

The underlying themes of the TV show became the titles to this book. The show inspired me to journal. I wanted to express my thoughts and feelings in an easy, and hopefully entertaining, format.

I desire others to know what I’ve gone through in the hopes that it will wake them up to the fact that HIV and AIDS know no discrimination.

Before we were diagnosed, I was uninformed and uneducated about this disease. I believed it was a life- style choice. When I went to my ten-year high school reunion, there was a bulletin board that had names of former classmates who had passed away. Two of them were gay men who had died of complications of AIDS.

Back in the ‘80’s, I remember my hateful remarks about the three brothers who had contacted HIV through a blood transfusion given to them because they had hemophilia. People were in an uproar about them attending public school. I remember telling Danny, “If I had a kid, I wouldn’t want my child playing with them; kids play rough and they bleed.” When I met their mother a couple of years ago, I was able to apologize for my prejudice and blind fear.

As publicity grew about those in the public eye with HIV, I could not understand how someone like Magic Johnson, a heterosexual and a married man, could get the disease. It was such a let-down when Tommy Morrison (John Wayne’s nephew), the boxer who had also starred in a Rocky movie, had to resign from boxing. He was known as the “Great White Hope” to become a heavyweight champion. How could this happen to a “straight” guy?

The last recollection I have of my blind prejudice is when I was watching the 1996 National Republican Convention. At the podium was a beautiful blond woman, Mary Fisher. She was very articulate and compelling. While addressing the Republican Party about funding for AIDS, she acknowledged that she herself had HIV. I was shocked! My mind was spinning. I thought to myself, “This is a liberal issue! Let the liberals handle this. Lady, you’ve got guts to be up there! Don’t you know nobody will want to touch you? Get off the stage!”

Then, not even a year later, my own journey began.......

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 45 pages
• Publisher: YChoser Desktop Publishing (October 2001)
• ISBN-10: 097140450X
• ISBN-13: 978-0971404502
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,190,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)