News
SIU Has Playboy model Rebekka Armstrong Visit
Published: Dec 07, 2003 - 03:09 PM
Rebekka Armstrong, a former Playboy model, spoke Wednesday evening in the Student Center Ballroom about her experiences living with AIDS. Armstrong spoke as part of the Student Center's AIDS Week, urging students to practice safe sex as well as get tested for AIDS.
Stretching a condom from her fingertips to her elbow, Rebekka Armstrong proved that no one can be too "big" to wear a condom.
Armstrong brought a crowd of approximately 150 people to Ballroom D of the Student Center Wednesday night to speak about the importance of using protection and her experiences of living with AIDS.
Melissa Webb, a freshman in cinema and photography, said she came to the lecture to become more informed about the issue of AIDS.
"I think this should have been required for everyone to come to," Webb said. "I have friends who have unprotected sex, and it scares me. They didn't want to come tonight, but I am going to try to get them to come with me tomorrow to get tested."
Armstrong was asked to speak as part of the Student Center's AIDS week, which was sponsored by Special Programs and Center Events. Armstrong, who posed for Playboy as Miss September 1986, was diagnosed with the HIV virus in 1989.
"I started to feel tired all the time. I thought it was because I ate a vegan diet, so I made an appointment for a complete physical," Armstrong said. "At the last minute I asked for a HIV test because I knew for a fact I was negative."
When her doctor called with her results, she was confused.
"I thought she was telling me I was pregnant," Armstrong said. "But I was positive for HIV, and the only thing I knew about HIV was death."
Attempting to mask her anguish, Armstrong began using speed and partying heavily.
When she was first diagnosed, there was only one treatment available. She began taking 18 pills a day in hopes of curing her illness.
"I was so sick. I pulled my mattress between the bathroom and the refrigerator so everything was within my reach," she said.
Once Armstrong's hands and feet began tingling with the sensation of pins and needles, she called her doctor.
She had drug toxicity from the medication and was diagnosed with neuropathy, which is a severe form of nerve damage.
Armstrong tried hiding her illness from friends and family. Once her illness began showing, she told people she had leukemia.
"Cancer was more of an acceptable disease than AIDS," she said. "I was so paranoid of someone finding out. I would have a cab drop me off three blocks away and would walk in the back entrance so no one would recongize my car."
With the failure of her first medication, she began partying again.
"I was a speed freak," Armstrong said. "My favorite drink was more, more of anything."
At one point, Armstrong weighed 98 pounds, nearly 40 pounds less than her average weight.
"I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. It didn't even look like me," she said. "I was wasting away."
Sitting at her desk one day, puss began secreting from her body. She called her neighbor and friend, E.J., for help.
"I was sitting there naked and I didn't even know how to dress myself," Armstrong said.
E.J. rushed her to the county hospital in Los Angeles because her medical provider dropped her once they were informed of her illness.
After seven spinal taps within a four-day period, Armstrong was diagnosed with two brain infections.
At this time, her doctor informed her of a new drug, which was not yet FDA approved. This time, it was not a pill but a powdered drink.
"I think gasoline would have tasted 10 times better," she said.
After a friend noticed that Armstrong was depressed, she invited her to go shopping and dancing in Texas.
"While I was dancing, I got a sharp pain in my side," she said. "I walked toward the exit and fell on my face and began convulsing and regurgitating."
Armstrong's pancreas had ruptured due to the new medication.
After another failed medication, Armstrong began another party binge.
"By the end of the streak of partying, I had no car, no house, nothing," Armstrong said. "I was so tired of fighting a loosing battle. I didn't want to live anymore."
She made an elaborate plan to take her life. She mixed numerous pain pills with tequila and drove into a brick wall with the hope of dying.
Armstrong was in a coma for three and a half days. When she awoke, she was transferred to the psychiatric ward of the hospital.
After being released two weeks later, she decided to come clean about having HIV. She went public with her illness in 1994 by speaking to family, friends and the media.
One friend helped her find support and discovered a women's seminar about HIV, which was taking place on her birthday.
"I hadn't celebrated my birthday since I was diagnosed," Armstrong said. "I decided to go, and it was absolutely wonderful."
Armstrong said the seminar she attended is the reason she decided to make a job out of her illness.
"When I was there, I saw a beautiful, tall and thin African-American woman," she said. "She was obviously sick."
The woman asked if this was where she was supposed to be, and Armstrong said it was.
"It is too late for me. I am here for her," the woman said pointing to her young daughter she was hoping on finding a home for.
"I absolutely lost it. It sent me on this mission," Armstrong said.
When she returned back to Los Angeles, her doctor started her on a cocktail, which is a combination of three or more medications.
"It made me have diarrhea. I had to wear diapers for 18 months," Armstrong said. "Do you know how hard it is trying to put on a pair of pants over a diaper?"
Once again, the drug failed after her body became immune to the medications. Her doctor prescribed her a new cocktail, which she referred to as "pure evil."
Not having a bowel movement for eight days, Armstrong realized the medication was ruining her digestive system.
After sharing her "five year rollercoaster ride" of partying and failed drugs, Armstrong told the audience how she contracted the virus.
After being heartbroken by her first love at the age of 15, her friend took her to a party on the coast to cheer her up.
"Alcohol for me is a truth serum," she said. "I went up to a cute boy and told him my whole story. I thought he was really there for me.
"It only takes one time to completely, and I mean completely, change your life," she said.
After she was diagnosed, she contacted her previous partners to find the source of the virus and encourage testing.
Every person came back negative, except one. The boy she met at that party could not be found. He was not tested, but Armstrong believes she contracted the virus from him.
Armstrong paused for a quick second to ask how long she had been speaking for, which was nearly one and a half hours.
"In the time I have been up here, three young people from 15 to 24 years old have been infected with the virus," Armstrong said. "In 2003, there is the highest rate of new HIV cases in the past decade."
Armstrong, who has been living with full-blown AIDS for nearly 20 years, encouraged the audience to get tested.
"We live in a messed up world right now," she said. "Don't be a statistic."
Throughout the event, Paula Clark, an employee of Jackson County Health Department, had a table set up outside the venue to provide free condoms and information.
"It is important to know that getting tested is not a death sentence," Clark said. "It is the status of your life."
Clark said the tests given at Longbranch Coffeehouse and the Newman Catholic Center are quick and painless.
"There are no shots. It is a cotton swab you keep in your mouth for about three minutes," Clark said. "Not getting tested can be a matter of life and death."
After being asked how the dating scene is with the virus, Armstrong told the audience she has been married for the past year.
Armstrong met her husband, who was diagnosed with the disease in 1990; from e-mail he had sent her after viewing on of her television appearances.
In addition to Armstrong traveling the country to speak to college students about AIDS awareness, she also does charity events for Playboy.
Armstrong spoke at three colleges in three days, all of which were in different states. She said the virus often causes her to be fatigued, but she enjoys speaking about AIDS.
"At times, I am too tired, but then I will get an e-mail or letter telling me that I helped," Armstrong said. "It makes me want to do it [lectures] even more."
Currently, Armstrong is taking more than 10 pills each day to keep her healthy.
"I think that if I didn't get tested, I wouldn't be alive right now."
For questions or comments, Armstrong can be reached at rebekka@rebekkaonline.com
Free and anonymous testing is offered the first and third week of every month at the Newman Catholic Center. On the second and fourth week, testing will be given at Longbranch Coffee House from 2 to 6 p.m.
Bethany Krajelis can be reached at: bkrajelis@dailyegyptian.com
Armstrong brought a crowd of approximately 150 people to Ballroom D of the Student Center Wednesday night to speak about the importance of using protection and her experiences of living with AIDS.
Melissa Webb, a freshman in cinema and photography, said she came to the lecture to become more informed about the issue of AIDS.
"I think this should have been required for everyone to come to," Webb said. "I have friends who have unprotected sex, and it scares me. They didn't want to come tonight, but I am going to try to get them to come with me tomorrow to get tested."
Armstrong was asked to speak as part of the Student Center's AIDS week, which was sponsored by Special Programs and Center Events. Armstrong, who posed for Playboy as Miss September 1986, was diagnosed with the HIV virus in 1989.
"I started to feel tired all the time. I thought it was because I ate a vegan diet, so I made an appointment for a complete physical," Armstrong said. "At the last minute I asked for a HIV test because I knew for a fact I was negative."
When her doctor called with her results, she was confused.
"I thought she was telling me I was pregnant," Armstrong said. "But I was positive for HIV, and the only thing I knew about HIV was death."
Attempting to mask her anguish, Armstrong began using speed and partying heavily.
When she was first diagnosed, there was only one treatment available. She began taking 18 pills a day in hopes of curing her illness.
"I was so sick. I pulled my mattress between the bathroom and the refrigerator so everything was within my reach," she said.
Once Armstrong's hands and feet began tingling with the sensation of pins and needles, she called her doctor.
She had drug toxicity from the medication and was diagnosed with neuropathy, which is a severe form of nerve damage.
Armstrong tried hiding her illness from friends and family. Once her illness began showing, she told people she had leukemia.
"Cancer was more of an acceptable disease than AIDS," she said. "I was so paranoid of someone finding out. I would have a cab drop me off three blocks away and would walk in the back entrance so no one would recongize my car."
With the failure of her first medication, she began partying again.
"I was a speed freak," Armstrong said. "My favorite drink was more, more of anything."
At one point, Armstrong weighed 98 pounds, nearly 40 pounds less than her average weight.
"I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. It didn't even look like me," she said. "I was wasting away."
Sitting at her desk one day, puss began secreting from her body. She called her neighbor and friend, E.J., for help.
"I was sitting there naked and I didn't even know how to dress myself," Armstrong said.
E.J. rushed her to the county hospital in Los Angeles because her medical provider dropped her once they were informed of her illness.
After seven spinal taps within a four-day period, Armstrong was diagnosed with two brain infections.
At this time, her doctor informed her of a new drug, which was not yet FDA approved. This time, it was not a pill but a powdered drink.
"I think gasoline would have tasted 10 times better," she said.
After a friend noticed that Armstrong was depressed, she invited her to go shopping and dancing in Texas.
"While I was dancing, I got a sharp pain in my side," she said. "I walked toward the exit and fell on my face and began convulsing and regurgitating."
Armstrong's pancreas had ruptured due to the new medication.
After another failed medication, Armstrong began another party binge.
"By the end of the streak of partying, I had no car, no house, nothing," Armstrong said. "I was so tired of fighting a loosing battle. I didn't want to live anymore."
She made an elaborate plan to take her life. She mixed numerous pain pills with tequila and drove into a brick wall with the hope of dying.
Armstrong was in a coma for three and a half days. When she awoke, she was transferred to the psychiatric ward of the hospital.
After being released two weeks later, she decided to come clean about having HIV. She went public with her illness in 1994 by speaking to family, friends and the media.
One friend helped her find support and discovered a women's seminar about HIV, which was taking place on her birthday.
"I hadn't celebrated my birthday since I was diagnosed," Armstrong said. "I decided to go, and it was absolutely wonderful."
Armstrong said the seminar she attended is the reason she decided to make a job out of her illness.
"When I was there, I saw a beautiful, tall and thin African-American woman," she said. "She was obviously sick."
The woman asked if this was where she was supposed to be, and Armstrong said it was.
"It is too late for me. I am here for her," the woman said pointing to her young daughter she was hoping on finding a home for.
"I absolutely lost it. It sent me on this mission," Armstrong said.
When she returned back to Los Angeles, her doctor started her on a cocktail, which is a combination of three or more medications.
"It made me have diarrhea. I had to wear diapers for 18 months," Armstrong said. "Do you know how hard it is trying to put on a pair of pants over a diaper?"
Once again, the drug failed after her body became immune to the medications. Her doctor prescribed her a new cocktail, which she referred to as "pure evil."
Not having a bowel movement for eight days, Armstrong realized the medication was ruining her digestive system.
After sharing her "five year rollercoaster ride" of partying and failed drugs, Armstrong told the audience how she contracted the virus.
After being heartbroken by her first love at the age of 15, her friend took her to a party on the coast to cheer her up.
"Alcohol for me is a truth serum," she said. "I went up to a cute boy and told him my whole story. I thought he was really there for me.
"It only takes one time to completely, and I mean completely, change your life," she said.
After she was diagnosed, she contacted her previous partners to find the source of the virus and encourage testing.
Every person came back negative, except one. The boy she met at that party could not be found. He was not tested, but Armstrong believes she contracted the virus from him.
Armstrong paused for a quick second to ask how long she had been speaking for, which was nearly one and a half hours.
"In the time I have been up here, three young people from 15 to 24 years old have been infected with the virus," Armstrong said. "In 2003, there is the highest rate of new HIV cases in the past decade."
Armstrong, who has been living with full-blown AIDS for nearly 20 years, encouraged the audience to get tested.
"We live in a messed up world right now," she said. "Don't be a statistic."
Throughout the event, Paula Clark, an employee of Jackson County Health Department, had a table set up outside the venue to provide free condoms and information.
"It is important to know that getting tested is not a death sentence," Clark said. "It is the status of your life."
Clark said the tests given at Longbranch Coffeehouse and the Newman Catholic Center are quick and painless.
"There are no shots. It is a cotton swab you keep in your mouth for about three minutes," Clark said. "Not getting tested can be a matter of life and death."
After being asked how the dating scene is with the virus, Armstrong told the audience she has been married for the past year.
Armstrong met her husband, who was diagnosed with the disease in 1990; from e-mail he had sent her after viewing on of her television appearances.
In addition to Armstrong traveling the country to speak to college students about AIDS awareness, she also does charity events for Playboy.
Armstrong spoke at three colleges in three days, all of which were in different states. She said the virus often causes her to be fatigued, but she enjoys speaking about AIDS.
"At times, I am too tired, but then I will get an e-mail or letter telling me that I helped," Armstrong said. "It makes me want to do it [lectures] even more."
Currently, Armstrong is taking more than 10 pills each day to keep her healthy.
"I think that if I didn't get tested, I wouldn't be alive right now."
For questions or comments, Armstrong can be reached at rebekka@rebekkaonline.com
Free and anonymous testing is offered the first and third week of every month at the Newman Catholic Center. On the second and fourth week, testing will be given at Longbranch Coffee House from 2 to 6 p.m.
Bethany Krajelis can be reached at: bkrajelis@dailyegyptian.com
