A Burden Of Silence: My Mother's Battle With AIDS

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful wake up call
Review: Mrs Draper has written a powerful account
of the trials & suffering of an Aids victim.

Society, always assumes that Aids is suffered
merely by the homosexual society, but the truth is,
many americans contract this horrible illness by
something as simple as a blood transfusion.

Hopefully, Mrs. Draper's book will give us all an
awakening to this serious problem.

Rating:
Summary: What you don't know can hurt you.
Review: "A Burden of Silence--My Mother's Battle with AIDS," by Nancy Draper, is a daughter's brief and very sad account of her mother's death at the age of sixty-nine. Nancy's mom was diagnosed with HIV in 1988 after receiving a tainted blood transfusion. In those days, many hemophiliacs and others who received transfusions contracted AIDS from infected blood. For the most part, the victims had no idea that they were in any danger. CBS News reported that the "Red Cross neglected to inform hundreds of individuals they might be infected with the AIDS virus." It seems that tracking down people who received blood from HIV-infected donors is time-consuming and expensive. What these victims didn't know did indeed hurt them.

Draper wrote this book for several reasons. She wanted to protest the prejudice that AIDS victims are often subject to in our society. Nancy's mother often commented that she felt "dirty" because she was HIV positive. Draper would like to raise everyone's awareness of the loneliness that AIDS victims feel, so that the stigma of having AIDS can be reduced if not eliminated. In addition, Draper speaks out against insensitive medical professionals who are cold and uncaring instead of warm and compassionate. Finally, since Nancy's mother swore her to silence, Draper wrote this book in order to exorcise her own personal demons after keeping the truth about her mother's illness a secret for so long.

"A Burden of Silence" is not elegantly written. Draper's prose style is stilted and a bit artificial. However, she makes up for this deficit with her honest and unembellished recounting of her experiences. She bares her soul, telling the reader in detail about her family's many other health problems (the author has rheumatoid arthritis and her son has cerebral palsy) and about how difficult it was for her to watch her mother deteriorate before her eyes.

I was particularly fascinated by the section of the book describing the AIDS Memorial Quilt Project, which was started in the 1980's to raise AIDS awareness all over the world. Many people who have lost friends, partners, and relatives to AIDS create panels commemorating their loved ones, and volunteers sew the panels together. The quilt was displayed for the first time in 1987 in the National Mall in Washington, D. C. Today, it includes 45,000 panels, weighs 54 tons, and represents 88,000 people who have died from AIDS.

I found it puzzling that Draper never reveals her parents' names, even now that her mother is gone. Since her mother wanted her illness to be kept a secret, Nancy had no choice but to keep silent while her mother was still alive. However, wouldn't it have served a broader symbolic purpose to reveal her mother's given name in the book?

Still, I applaud Draper and her family for their determination in steadfastly fighting back against an often heartless medical establishment. It took courage to write this painful and heart-wrenching account of one family's struggle against a scourge that is still taking lives all over the world.

Rating:
Summary: A touching tribute
Review: A Burdon of Silence is a heart-wrenching story of how a courageous family dealt with fear and ignorance.
In the book, Nancy Draper tells us how her mother suffered with the AIDS virus after she contracted it from a blood transfusion. Just as importantly, She shows how it adversely affected the entire family from the time they found out about the disease until her untimely death.
Plaudits for Ms Draper's courage in coming forth to show their suffering through something that is no fault of theirs and what is unknown is feared by people that say they are open minded and tolerant. More often than not unnecessarily.

Rating:
Summary: Angel in Disguise
Review: A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Nancy A. Draper at her book signing in a downtown book shop. Before the event began, Nancy spoke with me all about her book and her life and I was absolutely amazed. There are no words for the emotions "A Burden of Silence" will bring to you. Reading this book placed me in a different state; one that I had never experienced before. At times, I didn't know exactly how I should have reacted to what I was reading. She intimately addresses her feelings and makes readers feel as if they too have lived out this experience in some way or another.

"A Burden of Silence" will make grown men cry, the spiritual man frustrated and angry, AIDS activists proud, and drop the jaw of everyone else. I am thankful to have read this book and completely honored to have met this author. I think she's an angel in disguise and I feel she will go on to do much more than she has already done for HIV/AIDS victims. And when you read this book you'll realize that everyone of us, infected or not, is indeed a victim of AIDS.

Rating:
Summary: rosanne
Review: A touching testimonial to the incredible relationship between a mother and daughter when forced to deal with the ultimate tragedy.

Rating:
Summary: Moved me as both a mother and a daughter
Review: I had the pleasure of reading Nancy Draper's beautiful book, A Burden of Silence. She writes of losing her beloved mother to AIDS with such honesty, with such detail and with such devotion that it is tremendously moving. I read the book in one sitting, couldn't put it down and now I found myself thinking of it days later. Nancy's mother kept her HIV status a secret for she feared how others would judge her. This was a burden the entire family shared and it wasn't till after her mother's death that Nancy was able to share this heartbreakingly sad story with all of us.

Nancy Draper tells a story of devotion, isolation and love. I love that in the aftermath of her loss, Nancy found solace in creating a panel in memory of her mother for The AIDS Memorial Quilt. So now her mother's story lives on in this beautiful account and in her Quilt panel.

I highly recommend the book.


Rating:
Summary: Extremely Touching
Review: I'm very glad I had the chance to read this. I found it to be very touching as it brought tears to my eyes. Nancy did a great job writing this book.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended.
Review: If "A Burden of Silence" doesn't tug at your heart strings, nothing will. Nancy Draper's story will remind you that people with AIDS need love too. No one with AIDS should have to suffer in silence. This book honors the memory of her mother.

Rating:
Summary: Two thumbs up for A Burden of Silence: My Mother's Battle wi
Review: Nancy Draper has written a compelling personal story about Aids and its devastating effect on her family and friends. No one could imagine her feelings when she was suddenly confronted with the fact that her best friend her mother, contracted the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion. Her story is remarkable in how she handled the illness and the agonizing painful and eventual death of her beloved Mother. She has bravely reached out and touched the afflicted and those who are in a position to change the circumstances leading up to contracting Aids.

Rating:
Summary: A Daughter's Enduring Love
Review: Nancy Draper knows how to convey her innermost feelings to her readers. In her book, A Burden of Silence: My Mother's Battle with AIDS, she relayed her Mother's story with dignity and grace. Her Mother died an emotional death, long before she died a physical one. Ms. Draper and her family died emotionally as well, the very day they received the devastating news that her mother had been infected with the AIDS virus. This happened because the blood transfusion she received during heart bypass surgery was tainted. Abiding by her parents' wishes, she kept the illness silent for many years. It's a shame her 69 year old Mother felt like a leper because she was transfused with HIV. She died a tragic death that could have possibly been prevented.

As a writer, Ms. Draper draws her readers into her world effortlessly and with dignity and love. Her words are inviting and comforting to those who have lost a loved one, especially to such a horrific disease. Even though the story is sad, it is a story of strength and courage, and triumph in the face of adversity. She provides important information about AIDS without sounding clinical. Nancy Draper shows that there does not have to be a stigma attached to this disease. She questions why the government hasn't done more to help stop the AIDS pandemic. She opened herself up and became vulnerable...all to raise awareness about AIDS, and she did so in her Mother's honor! Nancy Draper's intentions are real. You feel this from the first few pages of her beautifully written story. My heart goes out to Nancy and her family.