A BURDEN OF SILENCE
My Mother's Battle With AIDS
Nancy A. Draper
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Authorhouse, 2004
142 pp
ISBN 141845107X
RRP $US15.50
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Nancy Draper has written a moving account of her elderly mother’s battle with HIV/AIDS. The disease was diagnosed in 1988, the result of a blood transfusion given during cardiac surgery several years earlier. The title refers to the fact that her mother felt compelled to keep the diagnosis secret and suffered in silence because of the social stigmas associated with disease. During the earlier part of her illness, there are numerous examples of the pain and harm caused by insensitive health care professionals, which serve as lessons for those who work in palliative care. Thankfully, her mother finally received some proper palliative care during the terminal phase of her illness.
Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia
