Well. maybe he had some suspicions around 1984....
BUT! In the The Great Pretender documentary Peter Freestone said that he had radiation therapy !!! Why radiation ? Wouldn't combining it with AZT Drugs destroy his health faster ?
The radiation was just for Kaposi's Sarcoma I think
[QUOTE] [b]Costa86 wrote:[/b]
What is all this bullshit? Sometimes I feel like some of these threads go round in circles repeating stuff we already discussed.
He got to know he had HIV in 1985, which is the earliest he could have possibly known, because it was the year the first HIV test, ELISA, became available.
In 1984 it was impossible for him to "know". All he could do in 1984 is suspect he might have it based on the reality of people who he had had sexual relations with succumbing to the disease.
We have just gone through all this just a couple of weeks ago in another thread.
Re when he developed AIDS, we knew for sure he was in the AIDS stage by September 1986, because of the KS lesion on his face when he went to Japan. It is unclear if he already had gone into the AIDS stage in 1985, but I highly doubt it. In 1985 there were virtually no treatments, so had he had already progressed into AIDS by 1985, I doubt he'd have been able to do the Magic Tour and other be till 1991. The main reason he made it to 1991 was that he started taking AZT in 1987 when he was officially diagnosed as having AIDS through a KS lesion biopsy.
Another thing to keep in mind: Freddie's lifestyle was catching up with him. HIV was the worst thing he caught, but we can be fairly sure that along with that, by the mid-80s he had caught numerous other venereal diseases, such as CMV and herpes. All these would have caused various symptoms. The "growth" in his throat which Barbara Valentin mentioned in Lesley-Ann Jones' book was not necessarily an AIDS symptom, although he certainly did have HIV by then.
Finally, here is a timeline for Freddie's infection:
1978-1981: infected with HIV. Most likely year is 1979. It is possible that after the initial infection, he was infected multiple times on different occasions.
1982: Freddie now knew about the dangers but did not change his lifestyle.
1984: likely that people Freddie knew started getting very sick. This is the year he started to get a clue that he might very well have HIV.
1985: diagnosed HIV positive, multiple times
1986: takes more tests, diagnosis is confirmed. AIDS defining illness (KS) apparent in photos, on his face. Press gets to know he is HIV+
1987: KS biopsy diagnoses full blown AIDS. Starts taking AZT. Appearance not changed much - looks good, face is puffy.
Late 1988: starts losing some weight, but not much at first. AZT working less well
1989: as happens with all patients, AZT has stopped working. Appearance changes rapidly. Health takes a huge nosedive. Very expensive treatment, and his will to live, keep him from slipping away.
1990: massive weight loss
1991: end stage AIDS
[/QUOTE]
I normally avoid reading these Freddie AIDS posts. I've been in this forum for well over 15 years. If i click on a Freddie AIDS link it's mainly for my amusement - this may be the first time i respond in one of these
This is the first time i've come across such an seemingly accurate timeline. Can you reference all your sources? While I'm not actually interested - I'm really all in it for his music and performances as well as the rest of the members - you could put to bed all of these questions that keep popping up. There is no need for other to keep asking.
If you're interested in Freddie's death - refer to Costa's timeline. That's exactly what we need. I've enjoyed your post - please post references and maybe get Richard to add a new forum specifically related to Freddie's death. Then all these morbid newbies can have a discussion over facts, lol.
The show must go on, i guess.
