Premiere: Friday, June 11, 1999, 10pm, on Thirteen/WNET. (Repeat: Sunday, June 13, 1999, 12 midnight.)
This Peabody Award-winning documentary takes a sensitive yet unflinching look at the complex life of Travis Jefferies, an African-American child born with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. It begins with Travis at age six and follows him over a three-year period, during which he develops full-blown AIDS. Already he has been treated with more than 275 different drugs, and now takes 20 each day. Another relapse forces his doctors to find new ways to manage his physical pain. Later, risky experimental therapies help him recover and Travis tries once again to find some joy in living. Poignant and at times painfully honest, it is the portrait of an extraordinary boy's struggle to survive a terminal illness with the unwavering love of his grandmother and the steadfast devotion of his professional caregivers and South Bronx community.
Special note: ITVS features a Web page on TRAVIS (www.itvs.org/travis/index.html), which includes information on Travis Jefferies updated since the completion of filming.
