Elizabeth Glaser (born Elizabeth Meyer; – ) was an American
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
activist and child advocate married to actor and director
Paul Michael Glaser. She contracted
HIV very early in the
modern AIDS epidemic after receiving an HIV-contaminated
blood transfusion in 1981 while giving birth. Like other HIV-infected mothers, Glaser unknowingly passed the virus to her infant daughter, Ariel, who died in 1988.
Life
Elizabeth Glaser was born November 11, 1947 in
New York City and raised in
Hewlett Harbor, New York.
She became the exhibit director of the
Los Angeles Children's Museum
The Children's Museum of Los Angeles opened to the public on June 11, 1979, and operated for 21 years. It was located at the Los Angeles Mall in the Los Angeles Civic Center. It specifically catered to children, with the purpose of educating, ent ...
.
Glaser graduated in 1965 from what is now the
Lawrence Woodmere Academy
Lawrence Woodmere Academy, also known as "LWA", and "Woodmere Academy", is an independent school located in Woodmere, New York, United States. It is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools and the New York State Board ...
.
Illness
In 1981, very early in the
modern AIDS epidemic Elizabeth Glaser contracted
HIV after receiving an HIV-contaminated
blood transfusion while giving birth. Like other HIV-infected mothers, Glaser unknowingly passed the virus to her infant daughter, Ariel, through
breastfeeding. Ariel developed advanced AIDS at a time when the medical community knew very little about the disease, and there were no available treatment options; she suffered some of the same ostracism from her school as
Ryan White experienced.
Early in 1987, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration finally approved
AZT as an effective drug to extend the lives of AIDS patients, but the approval only extended to adults. With their daughter's condition rapidly deteriorating, the Glasers fought to have her treated with AZT
intravenously. However, the treatment came too late, and the child succumbed to the disease late in the summer of 1988.
[
In the same year 1988, she created the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, to raise funds for pediatric HIV/AIDS research.]
Glaser entered the national spotlight as a speaker at the 1992 Democratic National Convention
The 1992 Democratic National Convention nominated Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas for president and Senator Al Gore from Tennessee for vice president; Clinton announced Gore as his running-mate on July 9, 1992. The convention was held at Madison ...
, where she criticized the federal government's under-funding of AIDS research and its lack of initiative in tackling the AIDS crisis. This speech is listed as #79 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century listed by rank.
In 1994, Elizabeth Glaser died at the age of 47, from complications of acquired immune deficiency syndrome
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
, at her home in Santa Monica on December 3, 1994.[ Her son Jake born in 1984, contracted HIV from his mother '' in utero'', but has remained relatively healthy due to a mutation of the CCR5 gene that protects his white blood cells. He later became a public speaker on behalf of AIDS patients. ][
]
Legacy
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a major force in funding the study of pediatric HIV problems and tackling juvenile AIDS, both domestically and globally. Glaser´s book ''In the Absence of Angels'' (1991), written with journalist Laura Palmer, was described as "a handbook of how the connected make waves in America".
The AIDS Memorial Quilt contains five panels with Elizabeth Glaser and her daughter Ariel Glaser's name on each of them, three panels with Elizabeth Glaser's name alone on each of them, and two panels with Ariel Glaser's name alone on each of them.
See also
Martin Gaffney
Martin Francis Gaffney (January 17, 1949 – November 1, 1991) was an American Marine who successfully sued the United States government on behalf of his wife's estate for causing the death of his wife Mutsuko Gaffney, one son, and eventually ...
- Gaffney contracted the HIV virus from his wife Mutsuko Gaffney who, like Elizabeth Glaser, was infected via a tainted blood transfusion and had two children contract HIV from their mother ''in utero''.
References
External links
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
Elizabeth's Story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glaser, Elizabeth
1947 births
1994 deaths
HIV/AIDS activists
American health activists
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Boston University School of Education alumni
People from Santa Monica, California
People from The Five Towns, New York
People from New York City
AIDS-related deaths in California
Burials at Sharon Memorial Park, Massachusetts
Lawrence Woodmere Academy alumni