Elizabeth Glaser

Elizabeth Glaser (born Elizabeth Meyer; (1947-11-11)November 11, 1947 – (1994-12-03)December 3, 1994) was an American AIDS activist and child advocate married to actor and director Paul Michael Glaser. She contracted HIV very early in the modern AIDS epidemic after receiving an HIV-contaminated blood transfusion in 1981 while giving birth. Like other HIV-infected mothers, Glaser unknowingly passed the virus to her infant daughter, Ariel, through breastfeeding. Ariel was born in 1981 and died in 1988. The Glasers' son Jake, born in 1984, contracted HIV from his mother in utero, but has lived into adulthood.

For the American folk artist, see Elizabeth Glaser (artist).
Elizabeth Glaser
Born
Elizabeth Meyer

(1947-11-11)November 11, 1947
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedDecember 3, 1994(1994-12-03) (aged 47)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Known forAIDS activist and celebrity spouse
Contracted HIV through blood transfusion
Spouse(s)Paul Michael Glaser
ChildrenAriel Glaser (1981–1988)
Jake Glaser (b. 1984)

Life

Glaser was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Max Meyer (1916–1998) and his wife Edith (1919–2003), and grew up with her brother Peter in Hewlett Harbor, New York; her father was the CEO of Ex-Lax. Glaser was a sister of Alpha Epsilon Phi at the University of Wisconsin, and also attended Boston University, earning a master’s degree in early childhood education. She became a teacher, and a director of the Los Angeles Children's Museum. Elizabeth married Paul Michael Glaser in 1980.

Illness

In August 1981, Elizabeth contracted HIV through blood transfusions she received due to complications before the birth of the couple's first child, Ariel. She did not find out that she had unknowingly passed the virus on to Ariel through breast milk, and that her son, Jake (born October 1984) had contracted the virus in utero until four years later, when she, Ariel, and Jake tested positive for HIV in 1985. Her husband, Paul, tested negative for the virus.

Ariel Glaser had developed advanced AIDS at a time when the medical community knew very little about the disease, and there were no available treatment options; she suffered some of the same ostracism from her school as Ryan White experienced.[1]

Early in 1987, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally approved AZT as an effective drug to extend the lives of AIDS patients, but the approval only extended to adults. With their daughter's condition rapidly deteriorating, the Glasers fought to have her treated with AZT intravenously. However, the treatment came too late, and the child eventually succumbed to the disease late in the summer of 1988.[2]

Legacy

Mourning the loss of her daughter and determined to save her surviving child Jake, along with other HIV-positive children, Glaser co-founded the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in 1988, with friends Susan DeLaurentis and Susie Zeegen. Glaser's work raised public awareness about HIV infection in children and spurred funding for the development of pediatric AIDS drugs as well as research into mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV. (Glaser's children received the virus through two of the most common means of MTCT.)

The foundation is a major force in funding the study of pediatric HIV problems and tackling juvenile AIDS, both domestically and globally. Her book In the Absence of Angels (1991), written with journalist Laura Palmer, was described as "a handbook of how the connected make waves in America".[3]

Glaser entered the national spotlight as a speaker at the 1992 Democratic National Convention where she criticized the federal government's under-funding of AIDS research and its lack of initiative in tackling the AIDS crisis.[4] This speech is listed as #79 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank).[5]

The AIDS Memorial Quilt contains five panels with Elizabeth Glaser and her daughter Ariel Glaser's name on each of them, three panels with Elizabeth Glaser's name alone on each of them, and two panels with Ariel Glaser's name alone on each of them.[6]

In 2000, Alpha Epsilon Phi adopted the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation as their national philanthropy. Ariel later had a Beanie Baby named in her honor with the logo being a picture she drew when she was five.

Elizabeth Meyer Glaser died at the age of 47, from complications of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), at her home in Santa Monica on December 3, 1994. [7] Her son Jake is now an adult who often speaks publicly on behalf of AIDS patients. Jake remains relatively healthy due to a mutation of the CCR5 gene that protects his white blood cells.[1]

See also
  • Martin Gaffney - Gaffney contracted the HIV virus from his wife Mutsuko Gaffney who, like Elizabeth Glaser, was infected via a tainted blood transfusion and had two children contract HIV from their mother in utero.

References
  1. Joanne, Fowler (2008-04-07). "Jake Glaser Alive and Thriving". People Magazine. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  2. "Breaking a Silence: 'Starsky' Star, Wife Share Their Family's Painful Battle Against AIDS" Archived 2007-06-24 at the Wayback Machine Los Angeles Times. 25 August 1989. Accessed 6 December 2006.
  3. Kevles, Bettyann (March 3, 1991). "The Youngest Victims of AIDS" – via NYTimes.com.
  4. Glaser, Elizabeth. "1992 Democratic National Convention Address". American Rhetoric. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  5. Michael E. Eidenmuller (2009-02-13). "Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century by Rank". American Rhetoric. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
  6. "Search the Quilt — The Names Project". Aidsquilt.org. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
  7. Kennedy, Randy (1994-12-04). "Elizabeth Glaser Dies at 47; Crusader for Pediatric AIDS". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.