AIDS lose its champion; some saved by Providence

Melbourne: The World has lost a pioneer in AIDS research, while Joep Lange’s family and friends a loving father of five, and a good friend.

Even as details emerge on the passengers aboard the fateful MH17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, the world AIDS community mourned 108 of its members of the international HIV research community on their way to a conference in Melbourne.

The casualties include world-renowned researcher, former International AIDS society president, and professor of medicine head of the department of global health at the University of Amsterdam Joep Lange. Lange, a Dutch, had been working with people with HIV for 30 years and had been involved in HIV treatment and research since 1983, just as the virus was emerging as a global health threat.

He was one of the key researchers behind several pivotal antiretroviral therapy trials, including projects involving the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the virus, according to the Amsterdam Institute of Global Health and Development.

Lange was on his way to AIDS 2014, a global conference from July 20 to 25, at the time of his death. He was traveling with his wife, who also died in the crash. The loss made even worse as they leave behind five daughters. Dr Seema Yasmin, Joep’s colleague tweeted # “What a huge loss to the world”. “Amazing father to 5 girls” “I asked him why he worked so much. He said “Do you know how much it cost to buy shoes for 5 girls”.

“Joep was a visionary amongst HIV researchers,” American HIV researcher Dr. Rick Elion told media. “Joep was absolutely committed to the development of affordable HIV treatments, particularly combination therapies, for use in resource-poor countries,” David Cooper, a friend and fellow researcher said.

While reports of the ones lost in the horrific attack surface there are some who dodged the doom. A married couple from Scotland could not fly with the ill-fated aircraft thanks to the fact that the flight was overbooked.

Barry and Izzy Sim and their baby were scheduled to be on board MH17. In a twist of fate, the couple were put on a later flight with the airline KLM, due to the Malaysia Airlines flight being too full. The change saved their lives.

Barry told the UK’s Daily Telegraph how he felt when he heard the news. “You get this sick feeling in the pit of your stomach,” he said. “We started getting butterflies. Your heartbeat starts going”.

Izzy was thankful for the chilling last minute decision, after hearing news of the crash on the way back to the airport. “There must have been someone watching over us and saying ‘you must not get on that flight’,” she said. “Coming to the airport in the taxi I was just crying … I feel like I’ve been given a second chance.”

An Adelaide couple also had a lucky escape by deciding to leave a day earlier from Amsterdam, the Australian Associated Press reported. Simone La Posta and her husband were booked to fly from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on flight MH17 but changed their plans at the last minute.

“We originally had our itinerary to be on that flight but then we changed it thinking we’d be too jetlagged for work on Monday,” she told ABC radio.‘‘It’s a bit surreal to think that one day later and I wouldn’t be here talking with you right now.”

They also almost didn’t get on the earlier flight as it was overbooked. “We were on standby and we only found out literally a minute before the boarding closed that we were actually going to be leaving that day,” La Posta said.

At least 298 people were on flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. There were no survivors.

(PICTURED:: Top: Joep Lange; Bottom left: Barry and Izzy Sim; Bottom right: Simone La Posta and her husband)