The hemophilia community will be honored at the 23rd Annual World AIDS Day National Observance called “Hearts Rising” on Thursday, December 1, 2016, in San Francisco.
Each year the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park hosts an observance of World AIDS Day. The purpose is to honor the millions of people who have died of AIDS and continue to raise awareness that the fight goes on.
This year, the hemophilia community will be honored with the Thom Weyand Unsung Hero Award for its activism during the HIV/AIDS crisis, which affected thousands of people with hemophilia via contaminated factor products. The award is named in memory of AIDs activist Thom Weyand, former director of the National AIDs Memorial Grove, who passed away in 2014.
The Grove is a 10-acre living memorial, where people from around the world come to “heal, hope and remember” loved ones. Hundreds of volunteers maintain the lush gardens, resplendent with Japanese maples, rhododendrons, redwoods, waterfalls and meandering paths.
Val D. Bias, CEO of the National Hemophilia Foundation, Jeanne White-Ginder, AIDS activist and mother of Ryan White (who had hemophilia and contracted HIV from contaminated factor product, and who died as a teenager in 1990) and other leaders of the bleeding disorders community will be present for the ceremony.
