Heres a letter a very good friend wrote to our leaders in Washington and Sacramento. It's contains a lot of important ideas and thoughts from my friend Mitch Star. To get in touch with Mitch to provide
any help, ideas or thoughts feel free to email him at:

Mitch4Assembly@aol.com.

With out futher ado:
********************

Saturday, March 1, 2008
Dear Friends:

My name is Mitch Star. I live in Orange County California. I wanted to talk to you about an issue that's very important to me and that is the issue of HIV/AIDS in America.
I was reading in the news today about the White House and Congresses plans to increase the budget for aid to Africa
for people living with HIV/AIDS. I agree completely that more needs to be done in that region of the world to combat the growing numbers of HIV/AIDS cases, but I urge you not to forget about those of us here in the United States who currently are living with this disease.
Budget cuts here in the United States especially in California are making life for people like me very difficult. Programs I rely on for help are being forced to deny service. Because of such cuts I was told by a social security worker that I was “not dying enough” to qualify, and at that time I had a CD4 count of 34 and a viral load in the millions. My health has since improved, but I am still haunted by this.
I am a 27 year old uninsured person living with HIV. I was infected with HIV in October 2005 as a result of being drugged while out with friends at a bar and attacked. I was found by paramedics in an alley and woke up at San Francisco General Hospital. My doctors knowing this had happened failed to test me for HIV. Over the period of a year and a half I was hospitalized 4 times with severe fevers and what I thought was the flu. The doctors did a lot of blood work but it was not found that I was HIV Positive till February 2007 when I collapsed on my bathroom floor and went into septic shock. At the time they did test for other STDs but an HIV test was never run. After I was told I was septic and that I was in fact HIV Positive the doctors told me there was a chance that I would not survive because going septic is very serious.
After a few days of intense treatment I did get better, and was released from the hospital. My doctor told me I was unable to go back to work because my health was not stable enough. I applied for disability. The process took over 5 months, and during that time I was told because my rent was too high I did not qualify for any type of general assistance. The day after I got out of the hospital my roommates ran out on me leaving me to try to pay for my apartment by myself thus starting a legal battle with the landlord. State Assemblyman Mark Leno's Office was AMAZING in helping me get resources, and also helped me in getting assistance from the AIDS Housing Alliance. I do not believe in my heart that it should take 5 months to qualify for disability. When I applied for State Disability they told me my former company had a private short term disability policy and they had to wait 90 days for them to figure out if they were going to pay it or of the state was going to pay it. After the 90 days passed I was told that I had to wait even longer because it had been referred to a 3rd party administrator to decide and that person had 90 days to decide. I was also told during this time that I did not qualify for Social Security Disability and to appeal would take 5 more months. So from Feb-May I had ZERO help. I lost my apartment and was forced to move back to Southern California where my family was on June 1st 2007.
When I got back to Southern California I had no idea on what to do. My doctors and social workers in San Francisco had no idea where I should go to get resources because California does not have a state wide directory unlike other states do that show resources. I was able after a few months of research to get tapped into the Orange County AIDS Services Foundation, and I must tell you these people are amazing. My one year anniversary of being diagnosed with HIV was in February 2008 I thank God everyday that I am still here. I survived 1 year, and have no plans of going anywhere anytime soon. I am here today because of places like Ward 86 which is an HIV/AIDS Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital and the Orange County AIDS Services Foundation. Both places faced massive budget cuts and were forced to make changes to their programs. Some doctors were forced to go part time and patients were forced to see other doctors because of these cuts.
I am telling you my story today in hopes of being able to put a face with this disease, and to show you how real people like me and the millions of other people who are infected with this disease are affected by the decisions that are made in Washington, and in state capitols all over the nation. I am trying to get invited to testify before Congress and the Senate in regard to Health Care. I also want to talk about being an uninsured American as well as what my experience has been living with AIDS, and what it’s been like dealing with current Government Programs in regard to treatment and support. I think this is an issue that needs to be talked about more.
I am asking for your help in assisting me in putting pressure on our public officials to stop cutting HIV/AIDS funding here in America. Myself and other young people like me are the new face of this disease. Everyday more and more young people in this country are becoming infected at an alarming rate. I think by telling my story I can perhaps get through to people. I think one person can change the lives of many, and I know by talking about it we can finally end the stigma that surrounds it.
This is an issue that is so very important to me. I am in the fight of my life for my life and I want to help others who have to deal with the same issues that I do. I do a lot of public speaking on this issue especially to youth groups. My story is all too common here in California and I hope by hearing it I could help save the lives of other young people who have this disease, or could potentially contract it. People especially the youth need to see that just because you have HIV it doesn't mean that your life is over, and that you can survive even under the worst circumstances. By me talking about my experiences it helps me deal with it myself. I would love to speak as well as be apart of any event or group that you feel would benefit from hearing my story.
Attached to the bottom of this email is something I think you should read. It was published by Poz.com which is an HIV website, and it talks about the budget cuts to programs to the Inland Empire. I found it very interesting and it goes to show what budget cuts do to organizations. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued support on this issue. I look forward to speaking with you soon, and continuing the dialogue on HIV/AIDS here in America.

Best Wishes,


Mitch Star