An Uncelebrated Hero

While not without empathy for Michael Callen, the AIDS victim profiled in “Portrait of Courage” (by Victor Zonana, Feb. 28), I fail to see why Callen is fighting a more noble battle than anyone who might be suffering any terminal disease.

After recently losing my husband to cancer, I question why he was never featured or interviewed by a newspaper. After all, he suffered every indignity and fought long and hard to overcome this disease. But, alas, his picture never appeared in any publication. He never blamed society for not finding a cure for his disease, though we are fairly certain he contracted this disease while serving in the armed forces in the South Pacific on the A-bomb testing sites.

During the 3 1/2 years of treatment for cancer, there were no federal funds to assist in payment for my husband’s medical costs, but if he had had AIDS there would have been aid and he would have been thoroughly briefed at the medical facility as to exactly what his rights were. The only briefing he received was an interrogation to be certain there was adequate medical insurance to pay for his treatment.

It appears that society has lost sight of the thousands of human lives lost daily to cancer.

SUSAN BROADHURST

Placentia