Elizabeth Taylor made a secret visit to a San Francisco AIDS ward. It marked a turning point in the crisis.
> ... The staff then gathered the patients who were able to leave their beds to meet Taylor. Their bodies were weak, and they leaned on nurses and IV poles as they came to see her. She spent a few minutes with each patient, touching them gently. Their joy and excitement meeting Taylor was clear on their faces, said Fraser.
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> Toward the end of her two-hour visit, Taylor asked the staff if anyone couldn’t get out of bed. Fraser led her to a man on a hospital bed and gently woke him to say he had a visitor.
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> “He asked, ‘Who?’ and I said, ‘Elizabeth Taylor.’ And he said, ‘Oh, right,’” Fraser recalled. “You can only imagine his face. He was just in shock. ‘I am I dead? Am I alive? What’s going on, Elizabeth Taylor?’”
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> Taylor spoke to the man and touched his hand before it was time for her to leave. The patient died that night, Fraser said. ...
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> Toward the end of her two-hour visit, Taylor asked the staff if anyone couldn’t get out of bed. Fraser led her to a man on a hospital bed and gently woke him to say he had a visitor.
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> “He asked, ‘Who?’ and I said, ‘Elizabeth Taylor.’ And he said, ‘Oh, right,’” Fraser recalled. “You can only imagine his face. He was just in shock. ‘I am I dead? Am I alive? What’s going on, Elizabeth Taylor?’”
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> Taylor spoke to the man and touched his hand before it was time for her to leave. The patient died that night, Fraser said. ...