The stigmatization extended far beyond the illness itself, Cliff explains. “It was as if the door to darkness had been opened and all the taboos were out there—sex, death, homosexuality, drug use ... Things that people had never heard discussed openly before.”

Cliff remembers feeling “almost ashamed or embarrassed” with the decision to enter a profession that, even though more males were becoming nurses, was still so heavily dominated by women. “But, I’ll get an associate degree in nursing,” he thought. “I can make $10,000 a year working as a nurse and with that I’ll be able to put myself through medical school.” | Cliff Morrison They Did Not Die Peacefully