Hydeia Broadbent, who was born with HIV and as a child became a leading voice in HIV and AIDS awareness, died Tuesday at her home in Las Vegas. He was 39.
Her father, Lauren Broadband, confirmed the death. He did not state the reason.
Ms. Broadbent was 6 years old when she began recounting her struggle with HIV on television, aiming to educate the public amid an epidemic that caused panic and stigma. Even as new treatments dramatically improved long-term outcomes for people with HIV, he stressed there was no cure and the infection was a life sentence, and urged people to prevent its spread.
In 1992, when she was 7, Ms. Broadbent was interviewed on Nickelodeon for a special with Magic Johnson, the basketball star who, after being diagnosed with HIV, became a familiar face in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“I want people to know that we’re just normal people,” Ms Broadbent told Mr Johnson, her face crumpling as she fought back tears. He reassured her gently, “We’re normal people.”
Mr. Johnson posted an excerpt of the conversation on social media on Wednesday and wrote: “Hydeia changed the world with her bravery, talking about how living with HIV has affected her life since birth.” He added, “Thanks to Hydeia, millions have been educated, stigmas have been broken and attitudes about HIV/AIDS have changed.”
In an interview with The New York Times in 2006, Ms. Broadbent said of the TV interview with Mr. Johnson, “I think it just opened a lot of people’s eyes that HIV can happen to anyone, with me being so young.” .
By the time she was 12, she had shared her story with many television viewers across the country. At age 11, she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and spoke about the myriad health problems she had faced as a young child and the emotional toll of the illness.
“When I turned 5, I had AIDS symptoms,” he said. “I had fungus in my brain, blood infections, pneumonia.”
Mrs. Winfrey asked, “What is the hardest part for you, Hydeia, about living with this disease?”
“When your friends die,” replied Mrs. Broadbent. “That’s the hardest part, because you love them and you always lose a friend to AIDS.”
Hydeia Loren Broadbent was born on June 14, 1984 in a Las Vegas hospital. She was abandoned at birth and adopted by Lauren and Patricia Broadbent.
Although she was born with HIV, she was not diagnosed until she was 3 years old. Doctors recommended her parents seek treatment at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., where she was put on a life-saving cocktail of drugs, her father told CNN in a profile of Ms. Broadbent.
It was at the NIH that Hydeia, a lively child, caught the attention of Elizabeth Glaser, founder of a pediatric AIDS foundation. She asked Ms Broadbent’s mother if she would allow Hydeia to speak publicly.
“I started speaking out because a lot of my friends weren’t open about having HIV/AIDS,” Ms Broadbent told CNN in 2012, when she was 27. “They hid secrets. Their classmates didn’t even know.”
In 1996, at the age of 12, he spoke at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, where he told delegates: “I am the future and I have AIDS.”
The disease had affected her learning, resulting in her not attending school until the seventh grade. At Odyssey High School in Las Vegas, she was part of a program that allowed her to work from home on a computer.
“My daughter has had no formal education because of her illness,” her mother told The Times in 2001 for an article about teenagers living with AIDS. “My priority wasn’t school, but keeping her healthy for as long as she had time.”
Ms. Broadbent continued to speak publicly about HIV and AIDS into adulthood. Her work earned her recognition, particularly among African Americans. Ebony magazine has twice named her one of the “150 Most Influential African Americans”, in 2008 and 2011.
Complete information on the survivors was not immediately available.
As an adult, Ms. Broadbent focused on fighting the stigma and misinformation surrounding AIDS and educating the public about prevention.
“I’ve dedicated my whole life to this fight,” he told CNN in 2012. “I don’t hate my life. I feel that I am truly blessed. But at the same time, my life doesn’t have to be their life. I didn’t have a choice when it came to HIV/AIDS, and people have a choice.”
Journey Gabriel contributed to the report.
