The Legacy of Joshua Gomes:
One of the greatest men I’ve never met

By Meagan Baalman, The Cherry Creek Times

January 2004


“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

 

Joshua Gomes was diagnosed with HIV when he was two years old. He lived to be 21, losing his life due to a medical oversight related to the medication that he took to treat his disease. In 21 short years, Joshua touched, inspired, helped and educated more people than anyone I’ve ever met.

He was featured several times in The Denver Post, LifeStyle Magazine and the Rocky Mountain News. He was included in Ripley’s Believe It or Not television series. He addressed the State House Committee, participated in the AIDS walk several times, ran in Essie Garrett’s 1,500 Mile Run for the Children (which was dedicated to him), rode 154 miles for multiple sclerosis and managed to graduate from high school with a 3.97 grade point average. That is not all. The list goes on. Pages and pages of Joshua’s accomplishments, awards and honors tie into an overflowing scrapbook. “He was a smart kid. He was a very smart kid,” Mary Gomes, Joshua’s mother, said.

“Joshua had trouble getting any kind of funding for college,” Mary Gomes explained. According to the Gomes family, scholarship committees could not find a reason to give a young man like Joshua any kind of financial assistance for educational purposes.

“You have AIDS. You’re not going to live tomorrow. Why should we invest in you? Even the scholarships set up from people who died from AIDS denied him,” Heather Gomes, Joshua’s sister, said. “My parents want to show those kids that they are something, that there is hope, that they are worth investing in for the future.”

After Joshua passed away, the Joshua Gomes Memorial Scholarship Fund was created in his memory. This college scholarship, a $1000 award, is provided to children living with HIV and AIDS.

“It would be tough to work that hard, get those kinds of grades and then [be unable] to go to college,” Mary Gomes said. “This scholarship is to give kids hope that they can make something of life and can be somebody that counts.”

The first scholarship was awarded last May and the goal of the Gomes family is to keep this scholarship going and to make it bigger. “We’d like to open it up to kids with leukemia and other illnesses because I am sure that they run into the same problem,” Mary Gomes said. “Our goal is to get the scholarship up to $10,000.”

Joshua Gomes was recognized for his participation in the Rose Parade for Hemophilia and AIDS. He was given the Spirit of Pathfinders Award for Community Service. He forever impacted family members, peers, newscasters (Stephanie Riggs was close friends with him until the end), actors (Bruce Willis once sat on a concrete floor beside Joshua’s wheelchair to better carry on a conversation) and athletes (former Miami Dolphin Steve McCallister is a close family friend who spoke at Joshua’s funeral).

Imagine what this amazing young man could have done, who he could have influenced had he completed his college education. Imagine what young adults like Joshua Gomes could do if they were able to attend and graduate from college. Imagine what they could do if they were supported and believed in, if the community gave back a little to those who spend their lives fighting to make the world a better, safer, healthier place.

 

 

Josh was an athlete.
His sport was health.
We were his coaches,
Heather his sparring partner.
You were the team.
Some played, some cheered,
Others applauded.
We’ve just witnessed
The game of a lifetime.

Joshua D. Gomes
October 19, 1979 – May 31, 2001

 

 

To make a contribution to the Joshua Gomes Memorial Scholarship Fund, please visit www.joshuagomes.org or call (303)761-3055.

 

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