Hydeia Broadbent, 17, Has AIDS, but It Doesn't Define Her

Seventeen-year-old AIDS activist Hydeia Broadbent is one of a growing number of children and teens living longer with AIDS. Patricia and Loren Broadbent of Las Vegas adopted her at age 6 weeks. The Broadbents were puzzled by their baby's susceptibility to seemingly every minor illness. "If someone came over with a cold, she got a cold. If she was exposed to someone with strep, she got strep. I just attributed it to the fact that her birth mother was an IV drug user and had no prenatal care," Broadbent said.

Hydeia learned that she had HIV at age 3½. Because her birth mother had had another child, a boy whose HIV was diagnosed at birth, social workers contacted Broadbent and suggested that Hydeia be tested. Broadbent and Hydeia's brother's adoptive mother became friends and set off on a quest to save their children. Time was running out. Doctors had told Broadbent that Hydeia wouldn't live past age 5. Hydeia and her brother were both accepted into the pediatric AIDS study, in which patients were eligible for AZT and DDI. Today, both are doing well. Hydeia speaks frequently to groups of teens and adults to educate them about HIV/AIDS.

Hydeia's days are typical for a teenager, except for her medical regimen. She takes a cocktail of 3TC, DDI and Crixivan four times a day. "You don't get up and think, 'I'm a girl.' I don't get up thinking I have AIDS." What if there were a cure for AIDS tomorrow? "I'd still live my life the way I'm living it now." As the Broadbents grew more knowledgeable about the disease, they made the conscious decision to adopt another child with AIDS. Hydeia's little sister, Trisha, 9, is also doing well.

Back to other CDC news for December 27, 2001

Previous Updates