Hydeia Broadbent, A Prominent HIV And AIDS Activist, Dies At 39

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Hydeia Broadbent, the HIV/AIDS activist who came to national prominence in the 1990s as a young child for her inspirational talks to reduce the stigma surrounding the virus she was born with, has died. She was 39.

Broadbent’s father announced on Facebook that she had died “after living with Aids since birth,” but did not provide more details. The Clark County coroner’s office said Broadbent died Tuesday in Las Vegas.

“Despite facing numerous challenges throughout her life,” Loren Broadbent wrote, “Hydeia remained determined to spread hope and positivity through education around Hiv/AIDS.”

He did not immediately respond Thursday to messages seeking comment sent via Facebook and a GoFundMe page.

Broadbent became a fierce advocate for those living with the disease at a time when medications were not widely available to help manage HIV and the virus was considered a death sentence. HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the body’s immune system and is the virus that causes AIDS.

Broadbent was adopted in Las Vegas by her parents Loren and Patricia Broadbent as a baby, but her health condition wasn’t known until she became seriously ill at age 3. By 5, Hydeia Broadbent had developed full-blown AIDS.

Her mother began giving talks to local groups about the hardship of raising a child with AIDS, and little Hydeia listened, soaking in all she heard.

Soon enough, the girl was speaking before the crowds.

She became a national symbol of HIV/AIDS advocacy at 7, when she joined Magic Johnson on a 1992 Nickelodeon television special, where the basketball legend talked about his own HIV diagnosis. The teary-eyed girl pleaded that all she wanted was for “people (to) know that we’re just normal people.”

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