Member, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Legacy Society

Mary K. Allen

In 1991, as the busy mother of four young children, I empathized with Elizabeth Glaser's story that was published in People magazine. In the piece, Elizabeth revealed her family's battle with AIDS and her work to raise awareness, beginning by speaking out about her own HIV-positive status through a blood transfusion and passing on the virus to her two children. The account of the Glaser family's heartbreaking journey — that they had already lost their daughter, Ariel, to AIDS and were at risk to losing their son, Jake, as well — affected me in a profound way that is still with me today.

I cried as I read Elizabeth's story, asking myself (and God!) how it was that this beautiful family became an innocent victim of such cruel and untimely fate. I had a daughter close in age to Elizabeth's daughter, and it all seemed so unjust and unfair. I felt as though I could relate to the powerlessness that Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, must have experienced in losing their precious Ariel to AIDS.

After Elizabeth's death, I vowed that if an opportunity ever arose for me to help the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), I would do so. Three years later, in 1997, at the time of my own difficult divorce, that opportunity came. As part of a Charitable Remainder Trust settlement, I was able to designate EGPAF to be one of the principle beneficiaries of the trust.

I am so gratified to be able to join this stellar organization's fight to end pediatric AIDS, all in Elizabeth's name. I know that EGPAF will do whatever it takes until no child has AIDS. Elizabeth Glaser's promise to her own children is now EGPAF's promise to all the children of the world. I only wish I could have known her personally so that I could have embraced her and told her that she remains one of my heroes. Today, when life seems difficult, I try to remember Elizabeth's fighting spirit and the worthwhile purpose that her life encompassed for me nearly 30 years ago when I happened to read her amazing story.