Unbowed by illness, his life is a marathon

By Mosota Mang’oa

They epitomise hope and resilience, the two key attributes that have seen them thus far.

The American couple Richard and Jodi Brodsky is athletic, and have taken part in the New York marathon a record 19 times.

They were at it Wednesday, in the plains of Mbita in South Nyanza, running in a marathon to mark World Aids Day.

But the race that matters the most to them, Brodsky, an architect by training, and his lawyer wife Jodi, is the race of their life, and which Brodsky has been pursuing after being afflicted by two terminal conditions.

He is living with HIV/Aids and is a brain cancer survivor.

Eight years ago, doctors told him he would die within two years, as a result of the cancer.

"I was diagnosed with brain cancer in November 2002, and doctors said I would die in less than two years," recalls 58-year-old Brodsky.

He adds: "It is as if they gave me a death sentence. But I refused to die, as I have held on tenaciously."

Five years earlier, in 1997, Brodsky tested positive for HIV. This completely changed his life but his saving grace was his supportive spouse, who has stood by him through the years.

"My husband has been my best friend since we got married. Thus, I could not separate or divorce him. Our three daughters were in junior and secondary school and they needed us," Jodi explains.

Richard Brodsky together with wife Jodi. [PHOTO: TITUS MUNALA /STANDARD]

She continues: "We decided to keep his status secret, even from close relatives. But four years later, we decided to tell the world about."

SAFE WATER

Brodsky resigned from work to start the Richard M. Foundation seven years ago. Together with Jodi and other organisations, they have organised marathons, in the last six years to mark the World Aids Day held every December 1.

Some of the organisations bodies participating in this year’s event are Kemri/CDC and Safe Water and Aids Project, which advocate for use of clean drinking as a mechanism to mitigate the effect of HIV/Aids.

Richard says use of marathon as a campaign tool against the scourge has seen the number of participants increase from 70 people testing for HIV in 2006, to 700 people last year.

"In 2004, we had the first marathon in Mbita and it attracted 30 participants. There were about 2,000 spectators. There were more than 300 participants in last year’s race," the agile campaigner told The Standard.

Brodsky said proceeds from the Mbita race, funded an orphanage with 50 children in Nakuru, and who are afflicted with HIV/Aids.

The following year they decided to move the marathon to a small town in Gainesville, Florida, USA. The couple says the event did not attract many participants, and as a result, they decided to move to back to Kenya.

Yesterday, the couple held the sixth marathon in Kenya, and where more than 400 participated.

Brodsky says that when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, doctors suggested a number of remedies. "One suggested radiation and surgery. An oncologist (cancer specialist) proposed chemotherapy, which I accepted.

ENERGETIC PATIENT

"The news of me having cancer was devastating. I did not know how to deal with it, but I owe my strength to Jodi," he says of his wife.

Brodsky says he ran the 2003 New York Marathon with the female oncologist, and together, they completed it. The medic was surprised at the energy exhibited by her patient.

Due to the immeasurable support from his wife, Brodsky wrote a book in 2002, titled Jodi: The Greatest Love Ever Told.

The book is about Brodsky’s journey with his spouse after the discovering that he had contracted HIV/Aids, after the test in August 1997.

Jodi is HIV-negative, and they use protection when they get intimate. Besides, Jodi takes a HIV/Aids tests after every three months.

Five years ago, while US President Barack Obama was the senator for Illinois, he wrote Brodsky a letter, which read in part "Athletic events are a great way for people to show that they are unbowed by illness."