‘It was hard to see him … just lie there’

By Alastair Lee Bitsóí | Dec 11, 2014 | News |

Family member tells story of HIV-infected man’s death at World AIDS Day Conference

WINDOW ROCK

Nanneray Nez remembers when she first learned of her late uncle being diagnosed with HIV and later dying of the virus that causes AIDS.

Nanneray Nez from Greasewood speaks about her late uncle Richard Etsitty, who died in 1996 from AIDS, on Wednesday at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)

Richard Etcitty, who was 40, died a day after Christmas in 1996.

Nez shared her uncle’s story for the first time with the public at the World AIDS Day Conference, held Wednesday at the Navajo Nation Museum by the Navajo Health Education Program.

“It was hard to see him … just lie there,” she said, while wiping away tears. “It’s crazy because I never cried until now.”

Nez, of Greasewood Springs, Ariz., told the story of Etcitty who worked with the Union Pacific Railroad until he was forced to retire because of complications from the disease.

Nez said that when Etcitty was diagnosed as HIV-positive, her aunts and other family members immediately took him in. The time of his diagnosis is also when the Nez family learned that Etcitty was gay.

This was in 1990.

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