Women At Risk Organization

Linda Luschei met the love of her life in June, 1983. She was at the Beverly Center, sitting at the bar of the Hard Rock Cafe with a girlfriend, when Michael walked up and said she looked like the only woman there who was not pretending to have a good time. Two years later, Michael and Linda were married. Not long after their wedding, Michael fell gravely ill. A case of chronic hepatitis, treated with blood transfusions before and after their marriage, was causing severe internal bleeding.

Linda Luschei met the love of her life in June, 1983. She was at the Beverly Center, sitting at the bar of the Hard Rock Cafe with a girlfriend, when Michael walked up and said she looked like the only woman there who was not pretending to have a good time. Two years later, Michael and Linda were married. Not long after their wedding, Michael fell gravely ill. A case of chronic hepatitis, treated with blood transfusions before and after their marriage, was causing severe internal bleeding.

WomenHeart www.womenheart.org Background: Founded by three heart attack survivors frustrated by the lack of information on women and heart disease, WomenHeart is a national nonprofit that promotes early diagnosis of heart disease, education and support for women at risk. The organization is backed by donations from individuals and corporations, including makers of drugs and medical technology.

A benefit walk next month will raise funds for Women at Risk, an organization that runs a support group in Hermosa Beach for HIV-positive women from the South Bay and surrounding area. The Dec. 6 walk is the sixth of its kind organized by Aiding People With AIDS, a nonprofit group based in Santa Monica. About 400 walkers participated last year. This year's 3 3/4-mile walk in Santa Monica will raise funds for two Los Angeles-area groups working with HIV and AIDS patients.

Lesley Wasserman's first AIDS care package from the Necessities of Life program was missing a necessity. "There was no Kotex or Tampax offered," said Wasserman, 44, sitting in her Toluca Lake apartment. She had joined the program--sponsored by AIDS Project Los Angeles to provide toiletries and other needed products to people with AIDS--in 1988, soon after she was found to have the disease. "It took almost a year to convince them this was a necessity for some of their clients," she said.