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BY KEVIN WACK
MaineToday Media, Inc. 04/05/2008

MaineToday Media, Inc.

Autum Aquino was just a curly-haired 6-year-old when she decided she didn't want to hide the fact that she had AIDS.

Aquino died Thursday at age 23. But the courageous choice she made as a little girl in Portland -- to stand up and dispel people's fears about a scary and poorly understood disease -- had an impact on society that continues today.

"She wanted it to be known -- and I think she spread this message very well -- that HIV can happen to anyone," said Barbara Parent, the school nurse at Hampden Academy, where Aquino attended high school.

The cause of death wasn't disclosed. Parent said Aquino appeared to be in good health in recent weeks.

Aquino was born with HIV after her mother, Theresa Dannemiller, contracted the virus from her husband. The family lived in the Bangor area until 1991, when the perky, brown-haired 6-year-old decided that she wanted to go public about her disease.

"She wasn't different from anyone else, and it wasn't fair," her mother told a reporter at the time. "I was perfectly happy hiding."

So the family moved to Portland, where they thought their disclosure would be met with greater acceptance.

Aquino enrolled at the West End's Reiche Elementary School, which held a special meeting where her mother explained the disease to about 100 parents. At the time, there were still considerable misperception about AIDS and how it could be transmitted.

The family was pleased with the way they were treated in Portland. But doctors, concerned about Aquino's deteriorating immune system, believed she would live longer if she was not exposed to common winter illnesses. In 1992, the family decided to move to Florida.

Some of the people in Lakeland, Fla., weren't as welcoming as the folks in Portland. The family faced harassment and even death threats, according to news reports. They moved back to Maine in January 1993. Aquino's mother died later the same year.

Despite those hardships, and a series of health problems that required her to take a cocktail of drugs, Aquino's spirit stayed strong.

As a seventh-grader in Hampden, where she moved to live with her aunt and uncle, she stood up and explained her condition to a room full of adults, recalled Parent, the school nurse.

"She was probably the most positive kid I've ever worked with," Parent said. "I never saw her without a smile on her face. And she had a can-do attitude about everything."

Aquino was a busy achiever in high school. A member of the National Honor Society, she participated in drama and cheerleading, French club, the student newspaper and the prom committee. She listened to Limp Bizkit and Good Charlotte. And her peers embraced her.

"People would be giving her hugs, wrapping their arms around her," Parent said. "No one shied away from Autum. And if they did, she would go and talk to them, in a very loving way, so that they would be more comfortable."

In 2003, Aquino enrolled at St. Joseph's College in Standish, where she majored in sociology. University spokeswoman Rene LeBrun was unsure Friday why Aquino left school in the spring of 2006, but said it may have been for health reasons.

Aquino died Thursday at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, according to hospital officials. No information about the cause of her death was available, since members of her family were not ready Friday to talk about her death, and they asked others who knew her to refrain from commenting publicly.

Aquino had recently been working as a retail cashier in the Bangor area, according to Parent, who said that she saw the Hampden Academy graduate a few weeks ago, and she seemed to be in good health at that time.

"She had very much outlived what any of the medical professionals had expected," Parent said. "I seriously think that part of the reason that Autum lived as long as she did was her positive attitude."

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