The Trail of AIDS: Dana Kuhn’s Story of Love, Loss, and the Fight for Blood Safety (Part 1)

What happens when life-saving treatment becomes life-altering — and the systems meant to protect families move too slowly to prevent harm? In Part 1 of this powerful two-part series, Dana Kuhn shares the deeply personal story that would shape a lifetime of advocacy. Set against the early years of the AIDS epidemic, this episode traces Dana’s journey from a newly ordained minister and young father with mild hemophilia to a caregiver navigating fear, stigma, and devastating loss. After a routine injury leads to his first factor infusion, Dana becomes critically ill — contracting hepatitis through the blood supply at a time when safety systems lagged behind emerging risks. What follows is a cascade of uncertainty: an HIV diagnosis, incomplete public health information, and the heartbreaking realization that his wife is also gravely ill. Through moments of medical neglect, visible stigma, and advocacy born out of desperation, Dana’s story reveals what families in the hemophilia community know all too well — when a diagnosis enters a home, it reshapes every relationship, every decision, and every sense of safety. This episode honors the caregivers who fight when fear takes over rooms meant for healing, and it lays the emotional foundation for the advocacy work that would eventually become Patient Services, Inc.