Hi, I’m Candice Wiggins, I’m in the WNBA. My father was a professional baseball player leadoff hitter for the World Series Padres in the 80s. And had drug problems. And his drug problems took over his career.
It was an untimely death to AIDS.
No one really knew how to respond to it. It was almost like everyone was living in fear with the disease and of the name. There was a stigma associated with it. I could see, you know, the way that people’s faces reacted when I would say the word AIDS or when my mom would say it.
And I really felt like a lot of times my father’s story would get swept under the rug and that’s the problem with stigma not really talking about never really solved it solve anything
It is a hard conversation to have but look at what not having the conversation has done. A hero is someone that has to go through some type of tragedy that’s always synonymous with the hero. My father, i n my opinion has become that. In my eyes, he is a legend. Ever since his death, no one has ever really seen someone play the game just like him. You know my family never gave up, we never gave up on my dad’s dream. You know I’m his daughter I’m his living legacy. I know he’s proud of me today. I’m Candice Wiggins and I am Greater Than HIV.
Former WNBA star Candice Wiggins honors her father, former Major League Baseball star Alan, in a moving tribute about his life. By refusing to keep silent, she’s helping to end the stigma and shame that still often surrounds HIV.
