Obituary: Steve Grissom, Battler on HIV Blood

Steve Grissom undertook the challenge of persuading Congress to pay restitution to people who, like him, contracted HIV from tainted blood, but did not live to see his legislative goal realized. Grissom, 52, died last Wednesday at his home in Gary, N.C. He contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during treatment for leukemia in 1985. A bill in Congress, the Steve Grissom Relief Fund Act of 2002, was introduced in the Senate in April by Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who frequently cited Grissom's circumstances in speeches calling for health care reforms. The bill would establish payments to about 12,000 people who contracted HIV from contaminated blood transfusions between July 1, 1982, and Dec. 31, 1987. A similar bill compensating hemophiliacs who contracted AIDS passed in 1998 but excluded patients such as Grissom. In 1997, Grissom founded the National Association for Victims of Transfusion-Acquired AIDS. Grissom is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son.

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