Film Review: "This Child of Mine" by Jennifer Finnochio Wolfe

Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society

David R. Crowe, President Phone: +1-403-289-6609 Fax: +1-403-206-7717 Email: David.Crowe@aras.ab.ca Roger Swan, Treasurer	Box 61037, Kensington Postal Outlet Calgary, Alberta T2N 4S6 Canada	Office Phone: +1-403-220-0129 Email: aras@aras.ab.ca Web: noaids.ca

David Crowe
July, 2011

“This Child of Mine” is a 2010 documentary that takes you into the living rooms and kitchesn of families being attacked remorselessly for their refusal to follow the dogmatic application of the HIV=AIDS theory to their children. I was familiar with all three of the stories but never before had I been drawn into the middle of the traumas as they were unravelling sharing their heart-stopping fear.

You will be with the Tyson’s as they anxiously await a trial in Oregon where they will find out if the state, which had already mandated treatment with AZT, will intervene in Kathleen’ right to breastfeed her own child, Felix. You will also listen in while Kathleen and David discuss what made them change their views about HIV and AIDS, in particular the fact that David was HIV-negative despite the couple being together for over ten years without knowing of her HIV status unless she was pregnant with Felix. If she had been infected prior to her relationship with David she should have been more infectious at the time of the birth of their older daughter, who is also negative. If she had been unfaithful, as doctors often imply when faced with serodiscordant couples, that might have explained her HIV antibodies but not his lack of them.

The story of Valerie Emerson was particularly bittersweet as it was a rare legal victory for dissidents. After her daughter Tia died while on AZT, Valerie took herself off this toxic nucleoside analog. As her health returned she also decided to take her son Nikolas off. The state, predictably, dragged her into court but, unusually, the judge concluded:

“She has placed her faith in this medical approach in the past and has lost a child. She has discontinued her own treatment with no apparent present ill-effects. She has observed an outward improvement in her sick son’s condition with a discontinuance of drug therapy. The State of Maine is now in no position to tell her in the face of her unique experience that she is wrong in her current judgment to wait for better and more reliable treatment methods.” [Judge DA Clapp, September 10, 1998]

Yet there was to be no happy ending because in 2006 Nikolas died of lymphoma giving proponents of the HIV=AIDS dogma reason to claim that stopping drugs will result in death from AIDS, while skeptics note that lymphoma is associated with nucleoside analog use and knowing of his rapidly declining health and poor quality of life on AZT, will find it hard to believe that Nikolas would have had as many healthy years as he did if he had stayed on the drugs.

The third story is of Christine Maggiore. I thought I knew her very well, we even started the podcast How Positive Are You? together, but this film brought me into their living room as a social worker ominously asked whether Christine was breastfeeding their first child, Charlie. This brought home to me how Christine, despite her usually calm exterior, really lived the trauma of questioning the HIV=AIDS dogma, she was not just a theoretician and observer like me. She did not just empathize with people being crushed like ants on the sidewalk, she was one of those ants.

The film conveys a sense of just how bleak Christine felt her life had become after the death of their second child, daughter EJ, in 2005. It does not flinch from covering the death of Christine herself and does not try to explain it away. I am sure there will never be a simple explanation because it just is one of those things that defies explanation. Despite the irony of both her and her daughter’s deaths being inextricably tied to the use of an antibiotic shortly before death, in Christine's case one cannot forget the trauma of the death of her daughter, and the many legal investigations that followed, including some she and Robin initiated themselves in order to try to get justice for the Los Angeles County coroner’ biased handling of EJ’s death investigation.

The film not only covers the events as they unfolded, in some cases more than ten years ago, but it provides recent updates on all the families. It is heartening to see the HIV-positive Kathleen Tyson still as healthy as ever, and particularly their growing son Felix, now almost a teenager, also in perfect health. Valerie Emerson, despite the loss of two of her children, is herself still healthy, despite many years bearing her HIV-positive status. And their men and other children remain stubbornly healthy and HIV-negative. This testimony in the film will not give succor to dogmatists who will continue to claim that the deaths of Tia, Nikolas, EJ and Christine were all from HIV and not from exposure to pharmaceuticals, whether AIDS-related AZT or simply common antibiotics.

All of this sounds heavy and depressing. And some of it is. If you don’t at least come close to tears a few times you obviously don’t have a heart. I had put off watching this film for some time because I simply didn’t want to go through Christine’s pain again. Although I was forced to relive traumas I had watched Christine go throw and also traumas I had not known much about before, I was inspired yet again by Christine’s life, courage and humanity. This film shows both her fragility and her amazing strength, seeming conundrums that resolve themselves as you get to know Christine.

Everyone who is concerned about human rights and the direction of modern medicine should watch this film. I sincerely hope that is everyone.

For more information see the film’s blog and facebook page.

David Crowe July, 2011 “This Child of Mine” is a 2010 documentary that takes you into the living rooms and kitchesn of families being attacked remorselessly for their refusal to follow the dogmatic application of the HIV=AIDS theory to their children. I was familiar with all three of the stories but never before had I been drawn into the middle of the traumas as they were unravelling sharing their heart-stopping fear. You will be with the Tyson’s as they anxiously await a trial in Oregon where they will find out if the state, which had already mandated treatment with AZT, will intervene in Kathleen’ right to breastfeed her own child, Felix. You will also listen in while Kathleen and David discuss what made them change their views about HIV and AIDS, in particular the fact that David was HIV-negative despite the couple being together for over ten years without knowing of her HIV status unless she was pregnant with Felix. If she had been infected prior to her relationship with David she should have been more infectious at the time of the birth of their older daughter, who is also negative. If she had been unfaithful, as doctors often imply when faced with serodiscordant couples, that might have explained her HIV antibodies but not his lack of them. The story of Valerie Emerson was particularly bittersweet as it was a rare legal victory for dissidents. After her daughter Tia died while on AZT, Valerie took herself off this toxic nucleoside analog. As her health returned she also decided to take her son Nikolas off. The state, predictably, dragged her into court but, unusually, the judge concluded: “She has placed her faith in this medical approach in the past and has lost a child. She has discontinued her own treatment with no apparent present ill-effects. She has observed an outward improvement in her sick son’s condition with a discontinuance of drug therapy. The State of Maine is now in no position to tell her in the face of her unique experience that she is wrong in her current judgment to wait for better and more reliable treatment methods.” [Judge DA Clapp, September 10, 1998] Yet there was to be no happy ending because in 2006 Nikolas died of lymphoma giving proponents of the HIV=AIDS dogma reason to claim that stopping drugs will result in death from AIDS, while skeptics note that lymphoma is associated with nucleoside analog use and knowing of his rapidly declining health and poor quality of life on AZT, will find it hard to believe that Nikolas would have had as many healthy years as he did if he had stayed on the drugs. The third story is of Christine Maggiore. I thought I knew her very well, we even started the podcast How Positive Are You? together, but this film brought me into their living room as a social worker ominously asked whether Christine was breastfeeding their first child, Charlie. This brought home to me how Christine, despite her usually calm exterior, really lived the trauma of questioning the HIV=AIDS dogma, she was not just a theoretician and observer like me. She did not just empathize with people being crushed like ants on the sidewalk, she was one of those ants. The film conveys a sense of just how bleak Christine felt her life had become after the death of their second child, daughter EJ, in 2005. It does not flinch from covering the death of Christine herself and does not try to explain it away. I am sure there will never be a simple explanation because it just is one of those things that defies explanation. Despite the irony of both her and her daughter’s deaths being inextricably tied to the use of an antibiotic shortly before death, in Christine's case one cannot forget the trauma of the death of her daughter, and the many legal investigations that followed, including some she and Robin initiated themselves in order to try to get justice for the Los Angeles County coroner’ biased handling of EJ’s death investigation. The film not only covers the events as they unfolded, in some cases more than ten years ago, but it provides recent updates on all the families. It is heartening to see the HIV-positive Kathleen Tyson still as healthy as ever, and particularly their growing son Felix, now almost a teenager, also in perfect health. Valerie Emerson, despite the loss of two of her children, is herself still healthy, despite many years bearing her HIV-positive status. And their men and other children remain stubbornly healthy and HIV-negative. This testimony in the film will not give succor to dogmatists who will continue to claim that the deaths of Tia, Nikolas, EJ and Christine were all from HIV and not from exposure to pharmaceuticals, whether AIDS-related AZT or simply common antibiotics. All of this sounds heavy and depressing. And some of it is. If you don’t at least come close to tears a few times you obviously don’t have a heart. I had put off watching this film for some time because I simply didn’t want to go through Christine’s pain again. Although I was forced to relive traumas I had watched Christine go throw and also traumas I had not known much about before, I was inspired yet again by Christine’s life, courage and humanity. This film shows both her fragility and her amazing strength, seeming conundrums that resolve themselves as you get to know Christine. Everyone who is concerned about human rights and the direction of modern medicine should watch this film. I sincerely hope that is everyone. For more information see the film’s blog and facebook page.