On September 28, 2019, T. Norman Rea will receive the Damien Center Hero Award that is provided to an individual or organization who has done extraordinary things to improve the lives of persons with HIV & AIDS in our local community and promote HIV awareness to stop the spread of HIV.
Below is Norman's story--in his own words--about his journey from first hearing the term "gay cancer" to his tireless efforts helping individuals and families living with HIV and AIDS.
Join us in honoring Norman on September 28th.
Below is Norman's story--in his own words--about his journey from first hearing the term "gay cancer" to his tireless efforts helping individuals and families living with HIV and AIDS.
Join us in honoring Norman on September 28th.
My Journey
T. Norman Rea
I was a young man living and working in the fashion industry in Manhattan in the 1980s when I first heard the words gay cancer.
Over the next months and years---I would lose the majority of my friends to what had come to be known as AIDS. I specifically remember sitting on my bed one night in New York and counting all the friends I had lost. When I got to 60---I stopped counting as it was just too painful to process.
I shared the same birthday as my best friend. He was a strapping good-looking Irishman. When we both turned 40---our friends threw us a huge party. He never made it to 41. In less than eight months after our birthday---he was dead. His body had wasted away and he was covered from head to toe in Kaposi sarcoma. Keith Chapman and I took him in to die in our home when his roommate threw him out. By the time I left Manhattan---I had 2 remaining friends.
I moved back to my hometown of Albany in 1996. I had developed a certain “numbness” to death but felt I was left behind to be a voice for my friends who had died and to fight against discrimination for those now living with HIV and AIDS. In Albany at that time---many still considered AIDS to be an NYC or San Francisco problem. As I did my research on AIDS statistics---I knew this was far from true and that the disease was rampant in the Capital Region but somehow more “hidden”.
So I struck out to meet the community leaders at the time. My first stop was The Community AIDS Partnership where I met Linda Glassman. I remember Linda calling in her young assistant to our meeting. His name was Perry Junjulas, who would go on to become the Executive Director at the Albany Damien Center. Linda led me to Dr. George Clifford at Albany Medical Center where they ran a program called Food Positive which was a home-delivered meals program for people living with HIV and AIDS. I will never forget riding on the delivery truck one day and meeting a handsome young man in Latham. When he opened the door---all the curtains were closed in his house and he was painfully thin. For him---the delivery was his ONLY social interaction of the entire week.
I volunteered at the AIDS Council and was eventually asked to be on their Board. I was also on the Board of the Albany Medical Center Foundation where I was honored with The Volunteer of the Year award as I had begun my many fundraisers in support of those living with HIV and AIDS. Eventually---Food Positive was transferred to The Albany Damien Center.
In the 1990s my mother Louise Blakley Rea formed the Blakley-Rea Foundation with my sister Eileen Rea and myself as administrators. Over the next two decades, we sponsored the annual Holiday dinner and festivities at the Albany Damien Center----first at our mothers’ request and later in her memory.
I was asked to go on an AIDS mission to Zimbabwe and South Africa by The Community Hospice in 2010. What I witnessed there is seared in my memory forever. People literally laying in the road dying of AIDS. Average life expectancy 38. When I returned---I produced two back to back benefits for the Africa AIDS program of the Community Hospice at The EGG.
My HIV and AIDS efforts had now been fully transferred to The Albany Damien Center. I did countless benefits and fundraisers and raised significant amounts of monies over the years. When I learned that the Damien Center had burned down---I immediately pulled together my singing team and put on OUT OF THE ASHES which was co-sponsored and held at ROCKS. At the end of the evening—we handed The Albany Damien Center a check for $70,000 to begin the rebuilding process.
My last benefit for the Albany Damien Center was in November 2017 and we called it A PHOENIX RISES in celebration of the new Damien Center. Once again---we were able to hand over a check for $50,000.
I know my work is not done and for my remaining time - I feel my job now is to keep the passion alive among young people. Even though AIDS is not a death sentence now---new and ongoing challenges have arisen. I want to let them know the fight is not over and that lethargy and indifference are not acceptable. I want to explain to them how many sacrifices have been made along the way so that they can live their lives as they wish and not have to live through the horrible holocaust that my generation endured.
I never considered myself a hero but to be honored with the premiere Albany Damien Center Hero Award will be one of my proudest moments and a highlight of my life. I am so very humbled and grateful.
Over the next months and years---I would lose the majority of my friends to what had come to be known as AIDS. I specifically remember sitting on my bed one night in New York and counting all the friends I had lost. When I got to 60---I stopped counting as it was just too painful to process.
I shared the same birthday as my best friend. He was a strapping good-looking Irishman. When we both turned 40---our friends threw us a huge party. He never made it to 41. In less than eight months after our birthday---he was dead. His body had wasted away and he was covered from head to toe in Kaposi sarcoma. Keith Chapman and I took him in to die in our home when his roommate threw him out. By the time I left Manhattan---I had 2 remaining friends.
I moved back to my hometown of Albany in 1996. I had developed a certain “numbness” to death but felt I was left behind to be a voice for my friends who had died and to fight against discrimination for those now living with HIV and AIDS. In Albany at that time---many still considered AIDS to be an NYC or San Francisco problem. As I did my research on AIDS statistics---I knew this was far from true and that the disease was rampant in the Capital Region but somehow more “hidden”.
So I struck out to meet the community leaders at the time. My first stop was The Community AIDS Partnership where I met Linda Glassman. I remember Linda calling in her young assistant to our meeting. His name was Perry Junjulas, who would go on to become the Executive Director at the Albany Damien Center. Linda led me to Dr. George Clifford at Albany Medical Center where they ran a program called Food Positive which was a home-delivered meals program for people living with HIV and AIDS. I will never forget riding on the delivery truck one day and meeting a handsome young man in Latham. When he opened the door---all the curtains were closed in his house and he was painfully thin. For him---the delivery was his ONLY social interaction of the entire week.
I volunteered at the AIDS Council and was eventually asked to be on their Board. I was also on the Board of the Albany Medical Center Foundation where I was honored with The Volunteer of the Year award as I had begun my many fundraisers in support of those living with HIV and AIDS. Eventually---Food Positive was transferred to The Albany Damien Center.
In the 1990s my mother Louise Blakley Rea formed the Blakley-Rea Foundation with my sister Eileen Rea and myself as administrators. Over the next two decades, we sponsored the annual Holiday dinner and festivities at the Albany Damien Center----first at our mothers’ request and later in her memory.
I was asked to go on an AIDS mission to Zimbabwe and South Africa by The Community Hospice in 2010. What I witnessed there is seared in my memory forever. People literally laying in the road dying of AIDS. Average life expectancy 38. When I returned---I produced two back to back benefits for the Africa AIDS program of the Community Hospice at The EGG.
My HIV and AIDS efforts had now been fully transferred to The Albany Damien Center. I did countless benefits and fundraisers and raised significant amounts of monies over the years. When I learned that the Damien Center had burned down---I immediately pulled together my singing team and put on OUT OF THE ASHES which was co-sponsored and held at ROCKS. At the end of the evening—we handed The Albany Damien Center a check for $70,000 to begin the rebuilding process.
My last benefit for the Albany Damien Center was in November 2017 and we called it A PHOENIX RISES in celebration of the new Damien Center. Once again---we were able to hand over a check for $50,000.
I know my work is not done and for my remaining time - I feel my job now is to keep the passion alive among young people. Even though AIDS is not a death sentence now---new and ongoing challenges have arisen. I want to let them know the fight is not over and that lethargy and indifference are not acceptable. I want to explain to them how many sacrifices have been made along the way so that they can live their lives as they wish and not have to live through the horrible holocaust that my generation endured.
I never considered myself a hero but to be honored with the premiere Albany Damien Center Hero Award will be one of my proudest moments and a highlight of my life. I am so very humbled and grateful.