Fight of her Life

Kimberley McGee

Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2001 | 9:04 a.m.

She's a petite teenager with a shy smile who craves to be normal, as most teenage girls do.

But in front of crowds, on national television or behind a podium, Hydeia Broadbent stands to her full 4-foot-10-inch height and speaks in a self-assured, determined and unafraid voice about HIV protection and acceptance.

She has AIDS, which attacks and weakens the body.

But not the soul.

Hydeia, who contracted the disease from her birth mother, has fought not only for a normal life free from illness, but also for the respect, acceptance and education of her peers.

"I'm a girl, Im black, and having AIDS is just like being either," she said.

Hydeia lives in North Las Vegas with her adopted parents, Patricia and Loren Broadbent; her 15-year-old sister, Briana; and 9-year-old foster sister, Patricia, who also has HIV.

They keep her focused and motivated, she said. And grounded, considering celebrities seek her out.

Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell and Jerry Springer have asked Hydeia to share her life story all 16 years of it with their talk show viewers.

"Being on TV is no big deal," Hydeia said. "It gets the message out there, which helps."

It's a good thing that she is so blase about national television appearances, because producers continue to find her fascinating. She will be featured in July on the hourlong show "Cool Women" on the WE: Women's Entertainment network. WE airs programming from 12-2 p.m. on Sundays on American Movie Classics (Cox cable channel 23.)

Actress Debbie Allen, the producer and host of "Cool Women," handpicked Hydeia for the show's second season, which begins in July.

"I was overwhelmed by the work that she does at such a young age," Allen said during a recent phone interview. "For all that she is going through as a young person, that's a lot."

Kate Capshaw, Whoopi Goldberg, Vivica Fox, Pam Tillis and Camryn Manheim are among the other women profiled on the show.

"I thought that it was an honor," Hydeia said. "I really don't get excited too much over these things. I'm still a regular person."

True, she's a regular teenage girl with posters of pop artists Sisqo and Mary J. Blige on her bedroom wall. But most teenagers don't have a nonprofit organization in their name as well as a handful of declared days in cities around the country in recognition of their work.

"It's a lot, I guess," she said. "But it's fun, and important."

The Hydeia L. Broadbent Foundation was created in 1993 to educate the public about HIV, as well as to offer compassion for those dealing with the diagnosis.

Hydeia speaks at fund-raisers and in schools four times a month, on average.

"The foundation basically enables me to go to rural cities, to a group of local kids who want to hear me speak but really can't afford it," she said. "It enables me to spread awareness of AIDS."

The city of Las Vegas named Jan. 6, 1994, "Hydeia Loren Broadbent Day."

"I've had 'Hydeia' days before," she said. "It's just another day, but it does send a message, even if it's only a few people who are listening."

See me, hear me

The urge to have others listen to how she felt as a girl with AIDS started early.

Dr. Lynne Mofenson of the Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal AIDS branch of the National Institute of Child Health Development in Bethesda, Md., was practicing at the same hospital where Hydeia was receiving treatments in the early '90s.

At age 6 Hydeia made a video to ease the worries of other HIV-infected children and their parents, so they might be less afraid of the disease -- and the future.

"That was quite impressive," Mofenson said. "She's a very intelligent, well-spoken kid."

Hydeia turns 17 on June 24, an unusual feat for the first generation of children born with HIV, Mofenson said.

"The median age four years ago for a child with HIV to survive was 8," she explained. "We are beginning to see children enter into adolescence, which shows how rare it is for someone of Hydeia's age to still be doing well."

The invention of new drugs and therapies to prolong the lives of children with AIDS are on the increase. With these, Hydeia may live well into early adulthood, Mofenson said. Beyond that only medical science can know.

"I can't predict how long she will survive from here, but my hope would be that the combination of the development of new therapies and drugs to stimulate the immune system will allow her to have at least a normal, young adulthood," Mofenson said.

Moment of Truth

In 1987 Hydeia's birth mother bore another child who was diagnosed with HIV (that child's identity was never made public). Patricia Broadbent, who had adopted Hydeia in 1985, was urged to test seemingly healthy 3-year-old Hydeia.

After the tests came back positive, she was told her daughter would not live past age 5.

"There was a lot of feeling sorry for myself, feeling sorry for her, and everyone telling me all they could do was treat the illnesses that were brought on by the HIV," Broadbent said. "I was overwhelmed."

After all, there were no options -- or so they were told.

For a year the family struggled with what, if anything, it could do for Hydeia, who accepted the situation and moved on with her life of playtime and "Sesame Street."

"I saw how well she was handling everything so I decided it was time to do something," Broadbent said.

She began to attend conferences, debates and read up on the then-relatively unknown disease.

One thing was certain, without medication to treat what the virus was doing to Hydeia's immune system, the doctors who first diagnosed her would be right -- Hydeia would die.

"If I hadn't taken her to the NIH she wouldn't have received any medications," Broadbent said. "They would have just treated her illnesses."

Through all of the doctors' appointments, hospital stays and illnesses, Hydeia remained undaunted by the stigma of her disease.

Broadbent wanted to keep it that way.

Instead of hiding behind other people's scrutiny, Broadbent worked to educate her friends and family so that Hydeia was never made to feel less than the charming little girl her mother knew.

"I was very public about it and I wanted to make sure she knew that we loved her," Broadbent said. "I wanted Hydeia to be accepted and not feel ostracized or get low self-esteem and that other stuff that goes along with HIV."

The road to wellville

Hydeia doesn't dwell on the fact that she's infected.

She's too busy.

She's going to the movies with her friends and having deep discussions about boys, music and other typical teenage things that are important to girls her age.

That's the fun stuff.

Meanwhile she also swallows eight different pills six times a day to boost her immune system and keep HIV at bay.

"It's a lot, but it doesn't really slow me down or anything," she said.

Other than a few run-ins with the common cold, Hydeia has had no illnesses or symptoms of AIDS for the last five years.

But her elementary school days are a haze.

"I was in the hospital a lot. I had a brain infection, a blood infection," Hydeia said. "If it wasn't a cold, it was something major."

To ensure she is caught up with her classmates, Hydeia has chosen to spend her sophomore year of high school studying at home.

From 8 a.m.-3 p.m., with an hour for lunch at noon, Hydeia studies math, science and English on her home computer through the Nova Center, an accredited school on the Internet.

The school season is chock full of events and schedules, but June brings a slower pace.

Every summer since she was 7 Hydeia has retreated to Camp Heartland in Milwaukee, a camp for kids ages 7-16 who are infected -- or affected -- by the virus.

The canoe rides, hikes and fishing are just like those at any other camp, but for Hydeia it is a safe place to grow as a normal girl without stigma attached.

"When you go, you don't really think about the fact that there are kids who are infected with AIDS or why you guys are there," she said. "Sometimes it might come up, but we play basketball and go to the dances and canoe."

She has bunked at the camp since its inception in '91 and returns this year to train as a camp counselor, a title she is proud to earn.

Beyond that, her plans for the future are as vague as those of most teenagers still exploring who they are.

"I don't know what I want to be yet," Hydeia said. "But there's a lot I'm doing now."

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