On Feb. 20, 2024, Loren Broadbent informed the public of the passing of his daughter, activist and warrior, Hydeia Broadbent. Broadbent passed away at the age of 39 after living with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) for her whole life. Not only did she surpass the life expectancy predicted by doctors, but Broadbent became a leader and advocate for the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“With great sadness, I must inform you all that our beloved friend, mentor and daughter Hydeia, passed away today after living with AIDS since birth. Despite facing numerous challenges throughout her life, Hydeia remained determined to spread hope and positivity through education around HIV/AIDS,” said Loren Broadbent via Facebook.
Broadbent was born on June 14, 1984, in Las Vegas and was abandoned by her biological mother at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada University, when she was only six weeks old. Shortly after, she was adopted by Loren and Patricia Broadbent. Contracting congenital HIV from birth, Broadbent was not diagnosed as HIV-positive with advancement to AIDS until the age of three. Doctors predicted that she would not live past the age of five.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system causing several other medical conditions such as heart disease, pneumonia, cancer and organ diseases. If left untreated it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Since the beginning of the epidemic, about 85.6 million people have been infected with the virus and 40.4 million people have died of HIV/AIDS. Not only did the HIV epidemic affect the health of people, but it also socially caused harm to individuals with the disease. Most diagnosed individuals at the time were queer males, leading to a great stigma created around the disease. This stigma created judgemental views for those who did contract the disease, assuming that individuals were “sleeping around,” which was largely looked down upon during the time.
Broadbent’s doctors recommended that her parents seek treatment for her disease at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, where they met Elizabeth Glaser, the founder of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Broadbent began her debut as an HIV/AIDS advocate and public speaker at six years old. Most famously, she appeared on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, where she talked about the issues that she faced every day as a toddler with the disease as well as the emotional toll. “When I turned 5, I had had symptoms of AIDS,” she said. She shared how the most difficult part of living with the disease was the loss of her friends to the disease. “That’s the hardest part because you love them and you always lose a friend to AIDS.”
By 12 years old, she appeared on numerous other television programs including “20/20,” “Good Morning America” and “A Conversation With Magic Johnson.”
Like Broadbent, the basketball star, Magic Johnson, revealed his HIV diagnosis in 1991 becoming a familiar face in the advocacy. “Hydeia changed the world with her bravery, speaking about how living with H.I.V. affected her life since birth,” Johnson said in a social media post. “Thanks to Hydeia, millions were educated, stigmas were broken, and attitudes about H.I.V./AIDs were changed.”
In 1996 at the age of 12, Broadbent spoke at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, where she told the public, “I am the future and I have AIDS.”
Her illness detained her from learning and attending schooling as most children her age did during the time, so it was not until grade 7 that Broadbent attended Odyssey High School in Las Vegas through a computer in her home. Nonetheless, she built a platform for herself as well as others advocating for individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS.
Throughout the years, Broadbent helped with several campaigns and organizations to help raise money and spread awareness of the effects of the disease to minimize stigma. She partnered with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation on awareness campaigns, including the organization’s famous “God Loves Me” billboard campaign that features individuals with HIV/AIDS.
In 2002, the Broadbent family published a book titled “You Get Past The Tears: A Memoir of Love and Survival,” the story about the life and inspiration of Hydeia as well as the story of their family navigating the uncertainty of the disease.
