Damon Courtenay died at the age of 24 on April Fool’s Day, 1991, from AIDS- related illnesses. He was a haemophiliac and at 17 he accidentally became HIV-positive through a routine blood transfusion.
In Australia in 1984, little was known about AIDS. The source of Damon’s disease turned out to be a contaminated blood donation. The book rails against the medical community’s failure to protect innocents like Damon from a death sentence.
When Damon develops full blown AIDS he suffers not only the illnesses which come because of it but also from the medical treatments given him to combat the illnesses. This is tough to read about and must have been absolutely heart wrenching for his family to go through.
Damon tried to write his own book about his experiences and to reduce some of the stigma attached to AIDS victims, but was unable to complete it. On his death bed he asked his famous author father to write it. It was published in 1993 and fortunately includes sections written by Damon’s girlfriend, Celeste, who cared for him until the end with compassion and love. It also includes sections by Damon himself who shows himself to be an incredibly resilient battler with a belief in the power of the mind and a strong zest for life.
Members found this a very moving, harrowing book which is interesting to read now, when we know more about viruses like HIV/AIDS and can contrast the situation 40 years ago with our own experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic today.
The book begins with Damon’s death in the hospital with members of the family around his bed. As an AIDS patient he is isolated from other wards and patients and treated by medical staff in masks and gowns with yellow sterile bags for all equipment used in his care.
The book quickly reveals the social and medical conventions of the times. In the days before his death it is Bryce Courtenay as the senior male in Damon’s sick room who must sign a form about Damon’s care while Damon’s defacto partner of six years, Celeste, is not considered a family member and is not initially allowed to stay with Damon in the hospital over night, even though she has cared for him at home for years before.
The book goes on to detail Damon’s childhood and how his parents find out he is a haemophiliac after he is circumcised and his nappies become soaked with blood. We meet the first of several medical specialists who show Damon and his parents arrogance and condescension and treatments bordering on malpractice.
Members found out a lot about haemophilia by reading this book. We already knew that the blood does not clot in male babies born with this inherited condition and we had heard about one of Tsar Nicholas’s sons having haemophilia. But we did not know about the repercussions of this for the sufferer growing up with it. Any bruise can cause internal bleeding unless a blood transfusion of Factor 8 takes place quickly, which can still take many painful hours to become effective.
As for AIDS - it is distressing that Damon died in 1991 when in the next few years new drugs would be developed to make it possible to live with AIDS rather than automatically die from it.
Some of us found the book overly long at 639 pages. It is also repetitive at times and reveals more about Bryce Courtenay’s ego than any reader may care for. He comes across as a poor parent and a bad husband. Some of his comments are sexist, homophobic and racist. Fortunately though, he reveals how well off he became after the great success of his first book, The Power of One. This, and the fact that he would go on to write many more popular books, was to prove very beneficial in the years of caring for his terminally ill son.
Who was Bruce Courtenay?
Bruce Courtenay AM was a South African-Australian advertising director and author. He was born in 1933 in Lebombo Mountains, Johannesburg, South Africa and died in November 2012 in Canberra.
At the time of writing April Fool’s Day he was married to Benita Solomon who was the mother to his three boys, Brett, Adam and Damon.
He divorced Benita in 2000, acknowledging affairs with other women during their 42 year marriage. He later lived in Canberra with his second wife, Christine Gee.
He was one of Australia’s best-selling authors, writing 20 novels and notable for his book The Power of One. He also wrote three non-fiction books including April Fool’s Day.
He won the British Book Awards 1990 prize for The Power of One, the APA Who Weekly Reader’s Choice Award in 1998 for Tommo & Hawk and in 1999 for Jessica.
He received an Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of his service to advertising and marketing to the community and as an author.
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