Don was a man who loved life. He spent his twenties traveling, meeting new and exciting people and living an amazing life. In the early 1980’s he found out that he had AIDS. This was something he never thought would happen to him. One of the concerns he had was that this is something that would define him. However, during his life, Don showed everyone he knew that he was much more than this disease.
A big concern he had was that he would never get the life insurance he needed, much less find love again. He had some trouble in the beginning, but as AIDS awareness grew and he accepted the condition things became easier for him. He had two long term partners after his diagnosis. His last was another man named Don, who he was with the last 6 years of his life. He would often talk of how complete and happy his life was. He spent time working with other people who had recently found out they had AIDS to give them hope and support.
Even though Don never had a child his sister became a widow when her son was just a few years old and he raised his nephew as though he were his son. He watched his nephew grow up and even have a child of his own. Despite the fact that Don passed away in 2010, he showed the world what a fighter he was as he lived for three decades after being diagnosed.
