Elizabeth Glaser
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Elizabeth Glaser (born Elizabeth Meyer; – ) was an American AIDS activist and child advocate married to actor and director
Paul Michael Glaser Paul Michael Glaser (born Paul Manfred Glaser March 25, 1943) is an American actor and director best known for his role as Detective Dave Starsky on the 1970s television series, ''Starsky & Hutch''. In between his work writing and directing, Gla ...
. She contracted
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
very early in the modern AIDS epidemic after receiving an HIV-contaminated
blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...
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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and raised in
Hewlett Harbor, New York Hewlett Harbor is a village in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 1,263 as of the 2010 census. The Village of Hewlett Harbor is located within the Town of Hempstead. This area, like Back/Old Lawrence i ...
. She became the exhibit director of the Los Angeles Children's Museum. Glaser graduated in 1965 from what is now the Lawrence Woodmere Academy.


Illness

In 1981, very early in the modern AIDS epidemic Elizabeth Glaser contracted
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
after receiving an HIV-contaminated
blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...
while giving birth. Like other HIV-infected mothers, Glaser unknowingly passed the virus to her infant daughter, Ariel, through
breastfeeding Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...
. 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 Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990) was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagnos ...
experienced. Early in 1987, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
finally approved
AZT Zidovudine (ZDV), also known as azidothymidine (AZT), is an antiretroviral medication used to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. It is generally recommended for use in combination with other antiretrovirals. It may be used to prevent mother-to-child ...
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 Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutrie ...
. 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, 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, at her home in Santa Monica on December 3, 1994. Her son Jake born in 1984, contracted HIV from his mother ''
in utero ''In Utero'' is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana. It was released on September 21, 1993, by DGC Records. After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, ''Nevermind'' (1991), Nirvana hired Steve Albin ...
'', but has remained relatively healthy due to a mutation of the
CCR5 C-C chemokine receptor type 5, also known as CCR5 or CD195, is a protein on the surface of white blood cells that is involved in the immune system as it acts as a receptor for chemokines. In humans, the ''CCR5'' gene that encodes the CCR5 p ...
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 The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, often abbreviated to AIDS Memorial Quilt or AIDS Quilt, is an enormous memorial to celebrate the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes. Weighing an estimated 54 tons, it is the largest piece ...
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 - 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