Wesley Light

That's a picture of Wesley one week before his death. He had them taken intentionally to show the effects of this disease on his body. It was one of his wishes that these pictures be published so that people know that AIDS still kills.

Wesley was born on February 29. Although he was gay, he contracted the disease by sharing a dirty needle as an IV drug user.

I met Wesley several years before his death. He was a kind soul he tried to never hurt anyone. We would sit in his apartment, talk and laugh. He loved music, especially the Eurythmics and looked forward to the release of Peace, their last album.

Wesley was estranged from his parents. His caregivers were his friends. At the end of his life, his mother and father travelled from Texas. Like many religious people, they disowned their son, condemned his lifestyle and feared his friends. What they found surprised them. Instead of sodomites and freaks, they found a loving community of caring people who took care of their son.

I was one of those care givers. One night, when his parents needed a few hours away, I was called to sit with Wesley. It was about 3 weeks before he died. While we sat, he accidently wet himself. He was humiliated, but I helped him stand, cleaned him, and helped him change into new underwear. This type of humilation is common when a person's body is so weakened from the disease.

When I got the call that Wesley was about to die, I rushed to his home. He had passed, and we waited for the funeral home to take his body. They were donating their services since Wesley didn't have the money to pay for his own cremation. His friends gathered and mourned. I recall going to the grocery store, numbed and explaining to the deli that I needed a platter because my friend had just died. They were very helpful.

Wesley had wanted his pictures published to warn people that AIDS was not a chronic disease and that it still killed. But, the main gay newspaper in Pittsburgh, OUT Magazine, wanted to be paid to publish them. My friend Billy Hileman ran an alternative to OUT called PlanetQ. He ran the pictures on the cover of his next issue.

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