A Circle of Support


	Debbi Hood Johnson had a red ribbon tattooed on her wrist as a reminder of AIDS awareness, and memorialized a wedding photo of her with her late husband, B. J., on her mouse pad.(Photograph by Gary O'Brien)

hen Debbi Hood Johnson first reached out for help on the Internet three years ago, she was lost in grief after the death of her husband, B.J. Johnson, from AIDS. "I had isolated myself from our circle of friends and was really keening for him," Debbi recalls.

Tired of pretending to be strong, Debbi took a chance and sought consolation from the people of the Computer AIDS Ministry, a New York BBS.

From the Charlotte, North Carolina, home she calls her "cocoon," she sent messages: "Why can't things be the way they used to be? I'm not strong, things are not okay, and 'normal' doesn't exist."


	With a T-cell count of about 350 leaving her susceptible to infections, Debbi Hood Johnson rests before continuing her work as an online AIDS counselor. (Photograph by Gary O'Brien)


	Debbi Hood Johnson hugs her friend Doug Wensil, who is caring for someone with AIDS. "She understood what I had to go through," Doug says. (Photograph by Gary O'Brien)

Sympathetic strangers soon became friends. Wanting to give back the kindness she had received, Debbi, who had been trained as an AIDS educator, took a stint answering AIDS-related questions on an adult-oriented BBS and went on to lead four live weekly online chat sessions devoted to the disease.

Last summer she learned she was HIV-positive and found that her grief had come full circle -- first her husband, then herself. Still, her focus remains on giving. "Sharing my personal connection to the disease helps put a face on AIDS for folks," she says.

Editor's note: Debbi Hood Johnson died in a car accident on February 24, just 16 days after the photos on this page were taken.

http://hwmin.gbgm-umc.org/CAM/memorials/johnsondh.html