Break from burden of caring for ill parents

Josue taps his aluminum bat on an imaginary home plate and takes several vicious slices through the air, reenacting his most recent home run in the back alley where he plays baseball with his friends.

“I sent it flying on the first pitch; no balls, no strikes,” he said. “I do a lot of grand slams.”

In the bedroom he shares with his mother and father, Josue, 11, pulls out his most prized possession, a red Angels cap in pristine condition, then puts it carefully back in the drawer. He can easily name the starting lineup and his favorite players, but he has never been to a professional baseball game.

Both of Josue’s parents are HIV positive, and when his parents are sick, he helps his mother with her work, putting labels on jewelry and packing them into bags. Sometimes, he makes grilled cheese sandwiches or chicken noodle soup for dinner.

The family has rented out the second room of their two-bedroom apartment, which sits along a row of factories near Burbank, to help pay the rent, and they take turns sleeping on the living room sofa.

His mother, Martha, found out she was HIV positive while pregnant with Josue. She took medication while pregnant and, as a result, neither Josue nor his older sister, Karen, 14, have the virus. But Josue’s grandmother, fearful that Martha would infect her children, took Karen to Mexico to live with her.

Martha said she was in the shower when her mother took Karen from her apartment. She has made several trips to Mexico to look for her daughter but has been met with disdain by police.

“I was crying every day,” Martha said. “When I would go to the police in Mexico to find out about my daughter, they would say, ‘Don’t get close to me, you have AIDS.’ ”

Josue worries constantly about his parents becoming sick, and his one reprieve is a week at Camp Laurel in Big Bear with other children affected by HIV. At camp, he admits he worries about his parents but enjoys being around children and counselors who deal with the same problems. And there is one part of camp he clearly loves:

“The pool!” he yelled, raising one fist into the air triumphantly.

“I love the hiking, the trees and the new animals you only see on TV, like deer,” he said, stroking his tiny pet hamster, Hunter. “The counselors treat me real good and say I’m a good camper. I always listen to them and don’t do anything bad.”

About 12,000 children will go to camp this summer, thanks to $2.1 million raised last year.

The annual fund-raising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.2 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make donations by credit card, go to latimes.com/summercamp.

To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash.

Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more will be acknowledged in The Times.