PLAISTOW — Students at Timberlane Regional High School heard a firsthand story of the risks of the AIDS pandemic yesterday. During morning and afternoon assemblies, they looked at 12 panels from the AIDS memorial quilt, which bears the names of 47,000 victims, while they listened to the cold, hard facts from an author with roots in Plaistow.
Nancy Draper, who used to work in the district schools as a substitute teacher, said AIDS presents a growing public health threat, especially for young people. Half of all new HIV infections strike those in the 15 to 25-year-old age range. That means "all you in the bleachers," she told the students.
"To some extent, AIDS has fallen off the radar screen in America," Draper said. "We can't let that happen."
She told the students how her mother, Irene Hamel of Merrimac, Mass., became ill from blood infected with the deadly virus that she received while undergoing heart-bypass surgery. She was 61 years old and made a decision not to tell anyone about her illness. Before she died at age 66, she made Draper promise to tell the story after her death.
"Nancy," she said, "I want you to write about this disease, so other people don't have to suffer in silence like we did."
Draper said she honored her mother's wishes and wrote a book, "A Burden of Silence." She also made a panel for the AIDS quilt in her mother's memory.
Draper said the entire quilt, which includes the names of 47,000 people who have died from AIDS, weighs 54 tons and would reach from Plaistow to Boston.
The AIDS quilt travels to the school every two years, according to Megan Truche, 16, a junior from Sandown. Truche, who is active with the school's Peer Outreach Group, said the memorial has become "kind of a tradition."
Truche said she hopes the quilt will remind students that AIDS still poses a major public health threat, but added it was too soon to gauge the impact.
"Usually, the day after the assembly, we'll have discussions," she said.
Kimberly Andrade of Plaistow, also 16 and a junior, helped display the quilt. She also belongs to the Peer Outreach Group. When she found out the quilt was coming to Timberlane, she said she wanted to be involved.
The Gay Student Alliance and the SoRock Coalition for Healthy Youth also organized the display.
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