Subject: CONTINUUM ARTICLES: JODY'S DEATH Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 02:47:17 -0700 (PDT) (170 lines of text) From: Hello all, The following is from the current issue of Continuum. A couple of contributors to this forum have used Jody's death as an opportunity to make remarks ridiculing holistic approaches to treating immunosuppression. What is clear is that Jody Well's death was *not* an unequivocal failure of holistic/nutritional treatment methods nor did it involve the unequivocal avoidance of AIDS drugs and other health hazards. On the contrary, Jody was extremely erratic in taking his own advice as to what he knew was right. Alas, these are the hard facts for us all; we all *know* that, for example, getting lots of exercise is good for us but knowing and doing is two different things. Similarly, Jody believed (correctly in my estimate) that AIDS drugs were generally bad for him, but finally succumbed to taking them. So, again, he did not follow what he believed to be right. It seems the long-term smoking was a big part of his health problems. Frankly, this death reminds me of that of Jerry Garcia. The role of his car accident remains unclear, to me at least. Even more interesting was the initial medical response that his death was from heart failure. Is heart failure one of the 29 AIDS conditions? Perhaps we could make it number 30 and then we can call it "AIDS". Death from heart failure would be more consistent with his past smoking behavior and lack of exercise, it seems to me. In any case, this seems a good example of the multiple risk-AIDS hypothesis, if you have to call it "AIDS". Californ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Continuum Vol 3, No.3 Sept/Oct 1995, p2 Joseph Wells (Jody) 12th March 1947 - 26th August 1995 No self-respecting survivor of 'HIV' is going to ignore the passing away of this magazine's founder on 26th August - a proud and angry man has been lost. Jody had said in 1993, "If I'm going to leave the planet early I want to have done something worthwhile." The comment of a man who remained, despite his usual persona, unsure whether he could escape the force of the HIV=AIDS theory; also the comment of a prophet. If you seek his monument, read in this magazine. Jody was diagnosed HTLV3 (earlier called LAV and later HIV) positive in 1984. It was 18 months after the traumatic breakup of a 14 year relationship of which he said later, "I simply could not handle the situation and began to drink, something I had never done in my life before. I very quickly became alcohol dependent, my nutrition suffered badly and I came down with glandular fever. I was tested and found to be positive. When I asked the doctor her opinion she said if I was lucky I might have a year to live." Eight years later, Jody began _Continuum_, putting out the news to all who would listen that HIV was a life sentence, not a death sentence; and perhaps not a sentence at all. He lived to see the publication in this magazine and others around the world of scientific confirmation that the 'virus' which has misled and terrorised people everywhere is not even isolated. In the past ten years, working first at the London Lighthouse and then with _Continuum_, his defiant qualities enabled him to stand aside from the drug based medical orthodoxy over AIDS. It became obvious to him that nutrition, drug use (prescribed and recreational) and quality of life were significant factors in individual progression, or not, to a definition of AIDS. His observations made him adamant that the so-called side- effects of perpetuation of an AIDS definition in an individual. In this opinion he was eventually confirmed in more than principle by respected London immunologist Professor Tony Pinching (among others) who told a journalist, "The trouble with AZT is its side-effects mimic the symptoms of AIDS." But Jody found himself facing choices, including the use of regular nebulised Pentamidine as possible PCPneumonia prophylaxis, which were reinforced in the community past the point where he wanted to resist them. His pneumonia was diagnosed with tests known for their high false-positivity rates, after he suddenly ended his long cigarette addiction in the middle of last winter. Jody also used Septrin, Dapsone, Trimethroprim, steroids, etc. With reminders, he began to question the use of these drugs, but his will to support his body in real ways, in its crisis, seemed drained. John Lauritsen has said of senior gay men, "As the AIDS epidemic developed, they experienced grief; they were in perpetual mourning, their hearts broken by the loss of their closest friends..." This was true of Jody, despite his cheerful face, for he was a lover of mankind who resented loss, and cherished the richness of the present. Burdened with the loss after Christmas of yet another close (medicated) contemporary, and a tendency to overwork, Jody's fighting spirit was sadly depleted. Two weeks before his last admission to the AIDS ward at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital he 'wrote off' his car, and when he died both his lungs had collapsed. One had been reflated. The senior consultant's provisional first diagnosis? "It could be heart failure. HIV gets everywhere." In January Jody had confided to Maggie Turner, a close friend, that he was ready to die. She commented, "I respected him, and knew him well enough to know that Jody wanted to be in charge of his life - and his death." Jody's known past health risks for mid-life illness included alcoholism, syphilis, heavy tobacco addiction, sustained stress and no exercise. He experimented for the second half of last year by not taking vitamin/mineral supplements. Although Britain's _Pink Paper_ printed that he had used further "recreational drugs" there is no evidence for this, and he himself had denied it except for his own report of unwittingly having some hash-cake on an unrepeated occasion. He liked to joke that he had outlived the family members whom he'd told of his HTLV3 diagnosis in '84, which might have been cold comfort. His cremation took place on Tuesday 5th September with several friends and colleagues absent. Jody's paid domestic carer for recent months, with whom he had once had a 14-year relationship, made the arrangements. A believer in HIV, he'd correctly predicted, "Jody isn't going to get better." It is a great tribute to Jody that _Continuum_ lives on, empowering people by disseminating information often not found elsewhere and asking important questions. He will be missed by many whom he inspired and especially by those carrying on the work he began. Personal Tribute from Tony Tompsett Jody Wells - from across the office desk. I was manning the _Continuum_ stall in the health tent at Manchester's Mardi Gras Festival when Huw joined me and told me that Jody had died the previous morning in hospital. The news came as a surprise but I can't say that I was shocked, having gone with him to hospital the previous week, when he was extremely weak from a collapsed lung - I suppose I'd been prepared in a way. I first met Jody some 15 months ago when I answered the advert for an office manager for _Continuum_. I arrived at his flat in North-West London, which housed the office, at 10am. He seemed surprised to see me, as he said he thought the arrangement was for 11 o'clock. (After I started working with him I soon learned why the organisation needed an office manager.) Initially I held Jody slightly in awe due to his manner and the esteem in which he was held by many people who knew him. But as we became friends I came to enjoy working with him, even though he was arrogant, independent and individualistic. He wasn't always easy to work with, as many who've tried will testify. He loved a good strong cup of tea, and we used to drink a lot when taking a break in the kitchen of his tastefully furnished flat, when we'd both get through a few cigarettes and chat about all manner of things - this was when his sense of humour was particularly evident, when he was relaxing, and sometimes I'm sure we sounded like a couple of schoolgirls. Another pleasant side of 'office life' was the odd trip to the stationery superstore. Jody would often combine this with a visit to his favourite whole-food shop. He's not be too concerned about the cost, but would stock up with organic fruit and vegetables and other delicacies I'd not even heard of. He loved his food and knew how to cook properly, which was why he complained about the hospital food later on. His innate artistic bent was very useful on the magazine and he taught himself how to use the computer to work with graphic images. But I'll remember especially the trouble he took to make the stall at Gay Lifestyle the magazine covers on a black and red backdrop,a nd on his way to the exhibition he bought three poinsettias. The final thing was a table cloth, which he scrounged from another stall at the last minute, completing the arrangements (his window- dressing experience showed here). It wasn't easy to see a great man laid low as he was at the beginning of this year. I really think he had overworked himself over the previous three years, giving to others and taking little in return. I believe that he was satisfied that he had achieved something special with his life, and that he realised his involvement and effort had to diminish. He spent the last few months dealing with pneumonia, which seemed to start after he suddenly quit smoking. I think it gave him plenty of time to review his life and to decide that there wasn't anything else he wanted to do here. I'm sure he was satisfied that he had helped others turn their lives around, and now he wanted a break. It was weird to see him not heeding his own advice regarding nutrition, vitamins, etc. and eventually taking prophylactic medication. But I believe he knew what he was doing; he used to say that we were providing information for people to make their own, informed decisions. And now it was _his_ turn to do just that. He was, as always, doing it _his_ way. I am certain that Jody 'hung around' just long enough to see that _Continuum_ became established for the future, and, with Huw and Molly, I am determined to see that the work which Jody had the vision to begin is continued for as long as it is necessary. We believe, as Jody did, that our job it to expose the myths surrounding HIV and AIDS. Tony Tompsett.