Father, daughter to race for AIDS charity support
Ramona Belfiore is like many college students. The 22-year-old loves writing poetry, being outdoors and spending time with her family.
But unlike most, she is HIV positive.
Belfiore, a native of Romania, was born very ill and needed a blood transfusion when she was only a few weeks old. This was where she contracted the HIV virus.
"Romania didn't have enough money to buy new needles, so they used the same one over and over again on the same child," she said. "So, when one kid got it, the rest of the kids got it."
Belfiore, a junior at Drew University, said the former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu isolated children who contracted the virus in orphanages to keep their families from becoming sick.
"Ceausescu said a child that was sick needed to stay in the hospital because they were too sick to be home with the family," she said.
Belfiore said her mother in Romania was put in a tough position because of the 1992 revolution that overtook the country.
"I'm assuming my mother just left me in the hospital because she had nine other kids to take care of at the time, they were under a lot of stress and a lot of her farm animals had died," she said. "So they left me there because I guess they assumed I was going to die anyway."
Susan and William Belfiore, who live in Princeton, were watching primetime news one evening and were shocked by what they saw. When they saw the terrible situation Romanian children were in, Ramona Belfiore's struggle as a child with HIV gained hope.
"[We saw] the situation with the children in Romania, and it was horrific," Susan Belfiore said.
Susan Belfiore, after listening to the broadcast, asked her husband if she should go. William Belfiore said she should, and Susan Belfiore felt she met the criteria for helping the children in the orphanage.
"[Volunteers] need to be flexible, need to be willing to put up with hard situations and willing to cry a lot," she said.
With her husband agreeing she should go to Romania, Susan Belfiore left the United States in 1992, hoping to help the sick children.
"She volunteered to go there and work for six months as sort of a mother, and she was in charge of four children," William Belfiore said. "Well, she fell in love with them, and I would travel back and forth every couple months to see her and the children."
William Belfiore said his wife lived with the HIV-positive children in the orphanage for almost two years and wanted to adopt them.
"So, in July of 1992, they came home to the United States," William Belfiore said. "After 21 years of marriage, we now had four children."
Ramona Belfiore said originally, there were five children Susan Belfiore wanted to adopt.
"About a year and half later, she adopted only four of us," she said. "The fifth found out he wasn't HIV positive and was able to go home."
In 1992, William and Susan Belfiore along with Ramona, adopted two other daughters, Mihaela and Loredana, as well as a son, Ionel. Every child contracted the HIV virus while in Romania, William Belfiore said.
Ramona Belfiore said later in her life, she found out she had a rare type of the HIV virus.
"I only have 25 copies [viral load] in my body and I've never gone above 100 copies. I don't take any medications, only vitamins," she said. "We've all been very blessed with very healthy lives."
Susan Belfiore said Ramona handles the HIV virus extremely well and does not shy away from speaking about it. She said when Ramona was younger, a fellow student approached her and would not shake her hand because of the virus.
"[Ramona] said, ‘Did you not listen in health class?' She has that way of being out there and being a leader in our family as far as we are concerned," Susan Belfiore said.
Although Ramona Belfiore lives with HIV, she said this does not stop her from enjoying everything in life, especially poetry.
"I live it and breathe it. It's just my thing. When I'm really anxious or upset, it's just something where I can get my words out, and there are no rules with it," she said. "So no one can tell me it's not a poem because it doesn't rhyme. It's what I say and what I want to do."
She also enjoys being outdoors and breathing in the fresh air she feels blessed to experience.
"Ever since I was little, my mom always says she can't get me out of trees," she said. "I'm always climbing and scraping my knees. I just like being outside."
Ramona Belfiore will have this chance coming up this Sunday, when she and her father will participate in the inaugural Unite Half Marathon at the University.
CGI Racing Director Michele Redrow, the sponsor of the Unite Half Marathon, said it is a chance to bring a healthy and fit lifestyle to a University atmosphere. The half-marathon offers the chance for many charities to raise funds for their cause, especially for William and Ramona Belfiore.
"They are in the race together, and it's really to bring awareness to [their charity]," she said. "These two have come this far along, and it's just phenomenal that the father and daughter will be racing and finishing it together."
CGI Spokeswoman Juliana Delany said she is excited to have both William and Ramona Belfiore participate in the half-marathon.
"It's just a really great success story where [William and Susan] took on the responsibility only a few people would take on," she said. "Now all their kids are in high school and college and are doing very well."
Ramona Belfiore said she did not see much of her father growing up because of his rigorous work schedule.
"He would go to work at five o'clock in the morning and come home late at night," she said. "I've been trying to connect more with him and hang out with him more."
William Belfiore serves as a board member for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which is the charity he and his daughter will be running for. He said when Ramona found out, she could not wait to participate.
"She's got the biggest heart and I thoroughly enjoy being with her," he said. "When she heard I was going to be running, she said ‘I want to do that!'"
Ramona Belfiore said although she is excited for the half-marathon, she does have her limits.
"I don't like to move very much because I'm a college student and 13 miles is a lot for me," she said. "But I'm very excited especially because I get to do it with my dad. It's going to be fun."
Susan Belfiore said even though she is not running in the half-marathon, she loves the idea of it because it gives her husband and daughter time to spend together.
"I think it's a great father-daughter thing, it's for a good cause, and it's a special time for them," she said.
Susan Belfiore added she loves all her children and said Ramona is one of the greatest people she knows.
"It was one of those things that was just meant to be," she said. "She is spicy, a really nice girl, extremely loving and I'm just so happy she's mine."
