Tammy
Boccomino
tells her story
at Techner
conference.

ow you get it. How you don't.
Tammy Boccomino wants to
make a few things very clear be-
fore she dies of AIDS.
Ms. Boccomino didn't do
drugs. She didn't sleep around.
In fact, the former pompon girl
married at 19 years old and ex-
pected to live a comfortable life
in Grosse Pointe.
She didn't know her husband
was an intravenous drug user.
He was a robust fitness buff and
had no apparent needle scars.
Their year-and-a-half marriage
ended in divorce, and in 1985,
Ms. Boccomino remarried.
She and her new husband,
Brian Volante, had two children,
Tony and Michael. Again, she
looked forward to living a hap-
py, normal life. But when Ms.

Dan Fuchs learns
about AIDS.

Boccomino returned home from
the hospital after the birth of her
second son, the family received
a fateful call from their doctor.
It was 1987. Like most Amer-
icans, Ms. Boccomino barely
knew a thing about HIV — oth-
er than what the doctor said. She
had it.
Now 33, Tammy Boccomino
spoke at Temple Israel on Jan.
30. The program attracted an au-
dience of nearly 500 people, in-
cluding 350 high-schoolers. It
marked the 16th Alicia Joy Tech-
ner Memorial Parenting Con-
ference, an annual event in
remembrance of the daughter of
metro Detroiters David and Ilene
Techner.

"The goal of the conference is
to educate parents so they can
better educate their own kids,"
Mrs. Techner says. "The topic of
AIDS is important for all people
these days. I personally have
been far too ignorant, and I have
two teen-age sons."
Ms. Boccomino contracted the
HIV virus (which leads to AIDS)
from her first husband, who had
become infected while shooting
drugs. Her current husband and
sons were tested. Two tests came
back negative. Little Michael's
were positive for HIV.
Life for the Boccominos is any-
thing but normal. They cannot
get life insurance. Michael has
rebounded from the brink of
death. He eats through a feeding
tube. Ms. Boccomino gives him
Tammy Boccomino considers AIDS education a mission.
$1.50 for lunch money just
so he can be like other little
boys.
"He doesn't touch the
school lunch," she says. "He
can't."
The family is always wait-
ing, dreading that inevitable
day when Michael's full-
blown AIDS becomes too
much. As for her own health,
Ms. Boccomino says, "It's by
the grace of God that Pm still
here."
Still asymptomatic, Ms.
Boccomino is fulfilling what
she considers her mission to
11,7
41'il
aatr-
f "
l'11
educate the public. In addi-
tion to giving speeches for re-
ligious and civic groups, she
it)01*ts '
has appeared in the print
media and on local television
0647171.4
"
channels. She has also led
rivalry,
self-mo t
talks for the Michigan Med-
:drugs and communication.,,
ical Society.
Another goal was to :mine
On the one hand, no one
ber
ever has to get AIDS, she
"It's therapeutic for us," say
says. On the other hand,
David
Techner ;
is the fu-
anyone can get it.
"It's the luck of the draw," neral director for Ira Kaufman
she says, and it doesn't mat- Chapel. "I think it's therapeu-
ter whether you are gay or tic for our family and it's a nice tribute to (Alicia)."
The Techner children, Ari, 16, Chad, 13, and Stephanie, 9, also take
straight, promiscuous or
monogamous, old or young, part in the conference.
"It's been a family event," Mrs. Techner says. "And the staff at Tem-
a drug user or clean, from
rJ
the inner city or suburbia, ple Israel has been extremely supportive."
"'IRS'' 'ERSON page 66

%;t1 .

PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIE ST

RUTH LITTMANN
STAFF WRITER