AEGiS-LT: NONFICTION IN BRIEF: Morning Glory Babies Children With AIDS and the Celebration of Life by Tolbert McCarroll (St. Martin's: $14.95)

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

NONFICTION IN BRIEF: Morning Glory Babies Children With AIDS and the Celebration of Life by Tolbert McCarroll (St. Martin's: $14.95)

LOS ANGELES TIMES (LT) - SUNDAY October 16, 1988 Edition: Home Edition Section: Book Review Page: 4 Story Type: Column; Book Review Word Count: 421
Alex Raksin

Randy Shilts visits a hospital ward for AIDS babies in this book's introduction, finding not the purgatory of writhing, screaming babies that one might expect, but a series of eerily silent rooms: With no one to respond to their cries, the babies had simply stopped making sounds. It was a scene similar to this that motivated the author and his small lay Catholic community in Northern California to adopt a number of AIDS babies (a growing problem, for in New York City alone, one out of every 61 mothers is HIV-infected).

Tolbert McCarroll and friends in the "Starcross Monastic Community" wanted to give AIDS babies the chance to respond to the excitement of each season during their short lifetimes. We follow Melissa, who showed "no response to the human face" when she was first adopted but soon was singing with gusto in fields of apple trees and laughing at a large blue jay perched on the tree above. The joy we feel about Melissa is profound because it rises above so much sadness. On Melissa's birthday, for example, her mother, destitute and dying of AIDS, manages to send a dollar bill and a card with the hopeful inscription, "One dollar for one year!"

The darkest side to this book comes not from the infants' deaths, however (Melissa, for one, is still alive), but from the ardent opposition Starcross members faced from national, state and local governments. Officials in Sacramento, for instance, wrote an apparently mindless, heartless letter revoking Starcross' license to raise children (it was later reinstated), while the U.S. government struck a theme of protection rather than compassion. Rather than becoming embittered by past mistakes, though, McCarroll goes on to detail changes sorely needed to help America care humanely for new generations of AIDS babies. Current programs moving children from hospice to hospital overemphasize the medical aspects of a child's life, McCarroll writes, for "it is the ultimate right of any child not to die among strangers." McCarroll also calls for a modification of today's adoption laws, written for healthy children and requiring delays of up to two years before a foster home can be arranged.

Despite political struggles, McCarroll is able to imbue this book with a spirit of celebration, for he is clearly heartened by what he sees on the Starcross farm. Regardless of what lies beyond its borders, it is a haven where butterflies are "kind enough" to linger around Melissa's cart and normally "haughty" cows tolerate raucous frolicking between infants and their calves.
881016
LT881016

Copyright © 1988 - Los Angeles Times. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Los Angeles Times, Permissions, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. http://www.latimes.com.

AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Pacific Life Foundation and donations from users like you.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1988. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1988. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .