Living Positive: Caught in the Middle

Life doesn’t stop with HIV. Elda Malpera, 38, of Brooklyn, NY is a recovering substance abuser living with the virus who has turned her life around. Yet every day poses a challenge as she struggles to raise her daughter and care for her dying father. Malpera was released from prison nine months ago, and since then she has been a client of the Women’s Transitional Housing program (WTH) of Housing Works, a non-profit organization that helps women like her to get back on their feet by providing housing, counseling, job training and a host of other educational opportunities and health care services.
Malpera was diagnosed with HIV eight years ago. Her five year old daughter Rachel and her fiance Anthony, her partner for the last 11 years, are both HIV negative. Her 61-year old father Sergio is in the final stages of cirrhosis of the liver, the consequence of decades of alcoholism. She is as committed to his care as she is to her goal of becoming a drug counselor for teens. She is fiercely determined to succeed, and hopeful about the new path she is forging for herself and her family.


Elda Malpera (center) scratches her father, Sergio’s back, while her daughter, Rachel Gonzalez (right) removes a layer to stay cool. Sergio is in the advanced stages of cirrhosis of the liver and is always cold. He keeps the heat up and the oven on to reach 100° in his small apartment in Ridgewood, Queens.

A family photo of Elda as a child with her mother sits on a shelf next to Elda’s HIV medicaton.

Elda pauses to call her cable company to take advantage of a movie ticket promotion. The theater is too far away and they can’t go. Their family is on a tight budget and cannot always afford luxuries like movie tickets.

Elda comes home from busy day in pain. She has nerve damage in her legs and feet – a condition called neuropathy. She has been advised to be sedentary, but with all of her responsibilities, Elda finds this impossible.

Sergio, 61 is in the final stages of cirrhosis of the liver, the consequence of lifelong drinking. His skin bleeds easily, the by-product of a disorder associated with cirrhosis. Rachel acts as her grandfather’s nurse and carefully wipes blood from his chest. “Grandpa, don’t scratch,” she tells him

Rachel plays dress-up with her grandfather’s hospital gown in his apartment in Ridgewood, Queens.

Sergio sits up in bed after Elda and Rachel arrive at his house. He is weak and tired and needs help doing simple things like getting dressed and cleaning. Although Sergio is quite ill, he likes to talk about his former hobbies. He once enjoyed photography and was an exellent cook, but at this point all Sergio can eat are meal supplement drinks.

Elda sits in the center of a chaotic hotel room holding her nephew, while her sister Erica (left) disciplines her son, Nicolas and Rachel (right) looks on. Erica, 25, just drove from North Carolina to move Sergio to their house because he can no longer care for himself.

Exausted from a long week of work and moving, Elda rests on the train while Rachel plays with her hair, unaware of her mother’s mood.

After packing up her father, Elda and Rachel have to take three different trains to get from Sergio’s home in Ridgewood, Queens to their apartment in East New York, Brooklyn

Sergio and Elda in a cab en route to Sergio’s bank, where he will withdraw the balance from his account before moving to North Carolina the next day.

A week after these images were taken, Sergio Malpera was moved to North Carolina, and shortly after went into the hospital. Sergio’s liver and kidneys were failing. Elda went immediately to North Carolina and a couple days later, he died. “Seeing ...[what happened to] him instilled in me never to drink again. There’s nothing under the sun to make me drink again. I’ve seen my father suffer way too much. It’s a wake up call from God – this can happen to you.”