Lancashire HIV Activist Dies
posted: 25/05/2010
Lancashire man, Marc Rushton, who campaigned to raise awareness of HIV, and who co-founded the East Lancashire HIV charity THRIVINE, has just died. His funeral will be on Thursday 27 May at St Mary’s Church, Oswaldtwistle, at 10am.
Marc Rushton, 42, was diagnosed with HIV under two years ago. He died peacefully in hospital last Tuesday following a brain haemorrhage. Marc, a businessman, told his story to the Lancashire Telegraph for an article challenging HIV stigma, which appeared last World Aids Day.
Ill and fighting stigma
He was already very ill, but was determined to help remove HIV stigma and secure more funding to help people affected. Speaking to the paper last October, he said: “I've had an amazing life so I don't feel sorry for myself. I feel like I've been given this for a reason and I have to talk about it. HIV is massively on the increase in East Lancashire. And it's not just gay people, it's not just drug users, it is heterosexual people.
"The UK has the highest rates in Europe. I think half of the stigma around HIV is attached to a lack of understanding. If you don't catch it early enough and if you don't get medicine then it's more likely to become full-blown AIDS. That is why we're stressing to everybody to get tested.”
Thrivine founder and treasurer
Marc, of Accrington, was a co-founder, trustee and treasurer of Thrivine, a HIV support group based at Eanam Wharf, Blackburn, which helps people living with HIV in East Lancashire.
Adrienne's comments
Adrienne Seed, the chair of Thrivine and a close friend of Marc, praised his bravery and said it was fitting he passed away on the date of their first AGM. She said: “I am sure that Marc chose his moment, that he was with us at that point saying goodbye to us all; to his positive comrades in arms. I know how much Thrivine meant to him and how important it would be to him that we carry on. We always laughed together even when he was going through what to other people would be considered as insurmountable health problems.
“Marc had an unfailing optimism that denied how ill he really was. I knew how ill he was but somehow I thought he’d survive. I think he knew in his heart he didn’t have much time. His time may have run out but his legacy will never be forgotten. I will make sure of that.”
Donations and funeral
Marc’s funeral will be held at St Mary’s Church in Oswaldtwistle, at 10am on Thursday, May 27.
Donations in memory of Marc can be made to Thrivine c/o Hyndburn Funeral Services, Queen's Road, Accrington.
Thrivine
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