Jason Arlie

Born on December 16, 1958 to Arlie Wayne and Sandra Louise in Wiesbaden, Germany. He was the oldest of five kids and as he grew he was a reasonably happy, normal child. His childhood held many of the problems and trials of children today. His parents divorced, he "experimented'' with drugs, even grew his hair long. He was quite proud of his hair and when he decided to join the Army, he had it braided, cut off the braid, and saved it. Last I knew, the braid is still around somewhere. He was a cook in the service and spent much of his free time enjoying life as only young people can. His stereo was his pride and his LP collection his joy.
He was full of trivia facts. Even before Trivial Pursuit © came out he knew more useless information than anyone I know. He also had a vocabulary that would impress even Webster. He had a singular wit and very much enjoyed such comedians as Kennison, Robin Williams, Steven Wright and Andy Kaufman.
When he was 21, he came down with a terrible flu. After weeks of feeling like caca, he went to see the doctor. They ran a few blood tests, did all of the things that doctors do when trying to find a cause for illness. They got some of the results back and told him they would have to run more tests. After hours of waiting, testing, and waiting some more, they told him why he had been so sick for so long. He had a blood disease known as Aplastic Anemia. His bone marrow was not producing enough of the the right blood cells to help him fight off germs and infections. Not only that, but they believed he had maybe 6 months left to live. Because of his vulnerability he could no longer eat at public restaurants, go to the movies; in fact, he was told he should wear a medical face mask whenever out in public to help safeguard him from anything airborne.
They started him on a regimen of blood transfusions and rotated through a variety of medications. After five years of bouncing back and forth from remission, he finally was well enough to stop the transfusions. Just about a year later, AIDS became known in the US as a growing threat. He was tested and it was found that he was HIV positive as a result of recieving tainted blood in a transfusion.
He was a stubborn fighter. It took a long time but slowly his health worsened. His hips became so weak that he had to have them both replaced. He spent 75% of his time with aches, pains, fevers. Finally, six years after he was diagnosed as HIV positive, and 11 years after his first grim diagnoses, he had to go to the hospital one last time. The fevers and the pain were just getting too hard. On July 31, 1991, my mother called to tell me that he had gone. She and his wife had been with him when he went.
My brother never did anything noteworthy. He was never known for any special contribution to the world. He won no medals, no awards. But he did something that I will always be proud of and amazed by. He beat the odds of his diseases. He lived 11 years longer than the doctors said he would. And he spent those years living to the fullest. He married, had a son, bought a house and made it a home. Oh- he had his moments of anger, frustration and despair. But he always found the strength to come out on top. He and I were never close. We loved eachother very much but, with me being the youngest and he being the oldest, there were many differences that we both allowed to keep us at a distance. So now he's gone and I am left just remembering.
Jason, I never knew you as well as I should have. But I will always love you and I will never forget you or how much you accomplished.