Shirley Young continues her son’s legacy by helping expand AIDS care

At the age of 91, Shirley Young continues to volunteer at the Dr. Peter Centre, a Vancouver-based healthcare facility specializing in the care of people with HIV/AIDS and founded in memory of her late son.

For nearly 30 years, Young has served meals and interacted with clients at the center every week, leading many in the facility to consider her a “matriarch.”

“We look forward to [her] “Every Wednesday … she would love us unconditionally,” said Hazeel Cardinal, a former patient and resident of the center, which was founded in 1997 in memory of Dr. Peter Jepson-Young.

Jepson-Young died of AIDS in 1992, having made his diagnosis public at a time when the disease still carried great stigma.

Young, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (the most advanced stage), is now battling her own serious health issues. The 91-year-old says she wants to continue her son’s legacy with a new fund aimed at expanding the center’s health programs nationwide.

On Sunday, the Peter Young Foundation hosted a party at the center to celebrate Young’s life and work and to announce the new “affirmation fund,” based on notes Jepson-Young wrote in the final months of his life.

In an earlier interview with CBC News, Young echoed her son’s words of encouragement.

WATCH | Shirley Young recites her late son’s affirmation:

Dr. Peter’s mother recites an affirmation written by her deceased son

Shirley Young shares a statement her son wrote while on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“The last sentence was, ‘The energy that I am will not be lost,’” said Scott Elliott, CEO of the Dr. Peter Centre, at a launch party on Sunday to celebrate the life and work of Shirley Young.

“And so the question is, how do we keep hope? How do we bring humanity into things?”

Young is the fund’s first donor, contributing $100,000. She hopes others will match her donation to double the fund’s impact.

Elliott says the fund will help the centre work with organizations across Canada to find ways to help people living with HIV/AIDS who are dealing with substance abuse, homelessness and mental illness. These are people who are on the margins of the community and who Elliott says are not always successfully treated in current health care systems.

The party and the donation were two of the ailing Young’s wishes, Elliott said.

“We had lunch and she said to me, ‘Scott, I want two things: I want to party and I’m going to give you $100,000 … to keep my legacy going.’”

Young received a warm welcome at Sunday’s party.

“There are so many important people on my journey. God bless you for being on this journey,” she said at the event, too tired to speak to CBC News in person on Sunday.

After Jepson-Young went public with his AIDS diagnosis in 1990, he became the face of the epidemic for many in British Columbia, said his close friend David Paperny, a founder of the Dr. Peter Centre.

Jepson-Young’s story was also broadcast as the Diaries of Dr. Peter on CBC Television. A documentary compilation, Dr. Peter’s Broadcast Tapeswas nominated for an Academy Award in 1994.

“It’s an overwhelming experience to see the impact storytelling can have on a community,” said Paperny, who produced the award-winning series.

Paperny says he has seen the center make tremendous changes in people’s lives and he is excited about the future.

“Shirley turned sadness and grief into something powerful and just, into compassion and into love,” he said.