SAMMY CALDWELL

Michael Easterling

7/10/2018

I often received calls from Sarah Goodson the nurse in charge of the AIDS Ward at Bellevue Hospital. One time she told me about a young patient there who she felt needed a visit. She gave me the patient’s name and within a few days I went to Bellevue to see him. I went to his room and found a young man of about 25, very weak and showing signs of Kaposi Sarcoma. He asked me to call him Sammy and was very personable. He told me he was from Indiana and had come to New York looking for a job but shortly after arriving started to get sick. When I asked him if his parents knew of his illness he told me that they had not communicated – they had cut themselves off from him when he told them he was gay. He said he left phone messages for them but had received no return calls. He also said he had written them several letters but there had been no response. It’s an understatement to say how sad he seemed to feel and as he talked he began to cry. There wasn’t much I could do to comfort him but at least I was there with him. While I was there he placed another call to them and left a message. I offered a prayer and then I left.

I visited Sammy over the next few weeks. He had IVs in both arms and a feeding tube in his stomach. He seemed to be getting weaker. We had good talks and almost every time I visited he would place another call to his parents and leave messages for them. He would almost plead with them to call him.

One day I stopped by his room for another visit. There were no personal belongings in the room and the bed was well made with clean white sheets. I talked to his nurse and she told me he had died in the night. To my knowledge he had passed on without ever hearing from his mother and father.

In those years I saw this tragedy repeat itself many, many times. But I also witnessed so many moms and dads giving their unconditional love until their sons and daughters breathed their last breath.