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AIDS took his family, now he's giving back HOME >> Organization helps children infected with disease

December 6, 2007 1:52 am

By CATHY DYSON

There was a time when Ozzy Ramos tried to put the impact of AIDS behind him, to block out the memory of those he lost.

But, a year ago, when the Stafford County man felt compelled to help others, he knew there was only one cause he could embrace.

He founded HOME, Home of Miracles and Embraces Inc., to help children infected with HIV/AIDS.

"This thing has always surrounded me, and I can't get away from it," he said.

Ramos wants to build a retreat for children. Until he raises money for land for such a camp, he'll provide as much fun as he can to those who suffer.

This month, he's granting holiday wishes to 32 kids served by the Georgetown University Medical Center.

He hopes to raise $10,000 to get every item on their lists.

Philanthropist Doris Buffett will match, dollar-for-dollar, whatever HOME raises by Friday, Dec. 14.

Underprivileged children are dear to Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation, and she's been impressed by Ramos.

"He suffered enormous tragedies in life, and I admire what he's trying to do to help other people, especially children who have suffered from this," she said. "That's why I'm on board."

dreams deteriorate

Ramos, 41, was a young Marine when AIDS first touched him.

He's a "Newyorican," a Puerto Rican raised in New York City, and his Brooklyn home was infested with drugs and gangs.

Ramos and his best friend, Maritza, married and he joined the Marine Corps to get out of the neighborhood.

Things were going great. Both had sons from previous relationships, then had a baby girl, Venus, together.

Venus got sick with respiratory problems and eventually tested positive for HIV/AIDS.

So did Maritza and her son.

Somehow, Ramos escaped a positive diagnosis, but not the pain.

His little girl was barely a year old when she died.

His wife lingered for another five years, and her son, several years after that. Ramos watched them deteriorate, along with their dreams.

His wife got the infection from her son's father and passed it along to her children. As Maritza suffered, Ramos became an activist, lobbying for his family's care.

That was in the mid-1980s, when little was known about the disease.

Some Marines embraced him like family; others shunned him.

At one point, Ramos combined his personal experience with military service and became an AIDS counselor to other Marines.

But after Maritza and the children died, he'd had all the exposure he could take.

"I kind of closed the door to the AIDS thing, and I didn't look back," he said. "For 13 or 14 years, I didn't even mention my wife's name."

opportunity knocks

By 2006, Ramos had married again, finished a 20-year Marine career and started his own business, doing background checks as he'd done as a chief warrant officer.

He was shopping one day when he saw a painting that called out to him. It was a wide-open orange door, plopped in the middle of a fluffy cloud.

Ramos bought the artwork and put it on his office wall. He came to believe it was beckoning him to do something for kids.

He knew instantly what children he would help, and his painful past helped fuel his passion.

"Ozzy's not just somebody who read an article about AIDS and said, 'Gee, I want to do something,'" said Buck Sutton, who leads a networking group that Ramos attends. "He's lived with the disease and seen the horrible toll it can take."

That same passion extends to anyone he knows, said Luis Burgado, his nephew.

Burgado has his own tragic story: He was 3 when his mother left him, 12 when his father was murdered and 13 when relatives abandoned him.

Ramos, 22 at the time, took care of his nephew until Burgado joined the Marines.

"I watched him help people who needed his help, regardless of what was going on in his life," Burgado said. "His doors were always open."

The two are still close, and like many others, Burgado is supporting HOME.

"These kids feel like they're alone, they don't have anybody to interact with," Burgado said. "For him to take these kids and take their minds off what they're going through, to me is a wonderful thing."