The Story of Garry Colley
As told to us by his nominator, using text from an article appearing in
the Vancouver Sun, November 26, 1997, by Rebeca Wigod

Garry was one of the founders of BC Coalition of People with Disabilities' Advocacy Access program. He served as an outspoken advocate with the program for many years. Garry developed AIDS from tainted blood products in the 1980's.

Garry Colley managed to live with hemophilia, but AIDS has wrecked his life. The 47-year old Vancouver man, a moderate-to-severe hemophiliac, developed the fatal illness after receiving tainted blood products in the 1980s.

After Colley learned he had the human immunodeficiency virus in 1986, his health and well-being took a nosedive. A big, broad-shouldered man with a sonorous voice, he recently vented his rage before the federal inquiry that is investigating past flaws in Canada's blood system.

"I cannot work because of the HIV," he thundered. "My right eye is dead because of the HIV. My liver is shot because of the HIV. I expect my life will be terminated, but I'm going to go kicking and scratching all the way." Colley got bad medical advice in the mid-1980s when he and other hemophiliacs sensed that "a certain amount of danger" lurked in the clotting factors on which they relied. At the time, "the doctors assured us the dangers were minimal," Colley said. "The doctors treated us like children."

Looking back to the early years of AIDS, many victims of Canada's blood tragedy can pinpoint one or more moments when things went fatally wrong for them.

Colley knew he had HIV in 1986, but he also remembers the time in 1987 when the Red Cross recalled a lot of Factor 8 that hadn't been properly heat-treated. Today the Red Cross admits that recall was fraught with problems.

By the time Colley was notified, he had already used three vials.

Garry Colley on the Memorial
Persons with Hemophilia HIV/AIDS on the Memorial