My name is Caleb McNamee.  I am 12 years old, and I have a little brother, Webb, who has AIDS. 

Webb got AIDS through no fault of his own; he got it from a bad blood transfusion shortly after he was born.  Ever since, he's been in and out of the hospital with one thing or another; seems like he's always sick, and it bothers me.

Webb got out of the hospital again last week.  Right now he's doing okay, but what's to say what things will be like a day from now, a week from now, a month from now??  He gets sick so easily.  One minute he can be laughing, throwing his toys or showing off for us, and the next, he is fighting to breathe, sweating, and in need of an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

I am currently at school; however, my mind is never far away from Webbie.  He is so little, but he's suffered so much, and I don't know how my parents can stand it.  I surely can't; I can't help but lie away most nights, and cry in bed, as I worry about whether in the morning Webbie will be dead or in the hospital yet again.

My teachers don't understand why I don't do better in my schoolwork.  Oh, I try my best; I really do!  It's just that I don't get the rest I should, and my grades have suffered terribly as a result.  It's all due to Webb and his having that damn disease called AIDS!

I sometimes get picked on at school; kids think that I'm gay (or that my parents are gay) when we are as straight as straight can be.  Or they call my baby brother a fag, and they say he deserves to have AIDS, which about kills me.  Every day I worry about what the kids will say to me or if they will do any of their mean tricks on me.  So far, nothing more than catcalls have happened, but I'm waiting for the teasing/bullying to escalate.

I love my baby brother with all my heart, but not at the expense of getting picked on or worrying all the time about him like I do!  My life is a wreck, and at times I blame Webb, and it's not any of his fault.  It's just that he has an illness that a lot of people still have misconceptions about, and as a result, he (as well as our entire family) are treated like crap!

~To be continued.~