San Diego Restaurant Owner Gets Personal With AIDS Fundraiser
For years, Deborah Helm has supported Dining Out for Life, an annual fundraiser for HIV prevention and treatment.
Co-owner of San Diego's The Mission restaurants, Helm hoped to help others in need.
She never dreamed she'd be helping herself.
Helm consulted a doctor in 2008 for a checkup. Among other things, the physician ordered a blood panel.
"I was not prepared for this to be full-blown AIDS," Helm said. But it was. When she learned the test results, "it was like the bottom of the room fell out."