Reprinted from the Houston Chronicle Thursday, December 25, 2005
By Mary Lee Grant
Chronicle correspondent

Many Montrose residents say they owe their lives to the Houston Buyers Club.

Fred Walters began the non-profit organization that provides the chronically ill with low-cost vitamins and supplements after he was diagnosed with HIV in 1994 Walters, a former seminary student who had hoped to be a Catholic priest, said the Buyers Club has become his calling. It is his method of helping others and serving God.

“When I was a kid I always wanted to serve the poor,” Walters said. “Not everyone I  serve is poor, but I feel that I am helping those in need. I am doing what God wants me to do.” He dropped out of seminary after four years, struggling with his homosexuality, but thought he might return some day. When he was diagnosed with IIIV, that door closed. The Catholic Church does not let those who are HIV-positive enter seminary, he said.

“To me, this is church,” Wakers said, pointing at the crowd that fills the store, seeking advice and healing.

The Buyers Club is constantly busy, with customers chatting with Walters and his staff, asking questions about the effects of different supplements or seeking advice on choosing a protein powder. Others are coming in to see the registered dietician who will test their body composition, analyze their blood work and then make diet recommendations.

Karen Kilduff, a nurse with hepatitis C, said she doesn’t know how she would survive without the group. She takes 19 nutritional supplements.

“Even though I work and have insurance, I couldn’t afford to take them if it weren’t for the Buyers Club, Kilduff said. “They are wonderfully friendly and are doing great work Supplements have an important role in treating chronic illness and side effects, and I am so glad they are there.”

Those who visit the Buyers Club include patients with HIV/AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C, diabetes, and increasingly, those with few health problems who still enjoy the low cost and wide selection of the Buyers Club. There are only eight similar organizations in the United States, Walters said.

The club sells items including vitamins and minerals, protein supplements, amino acids, creatine, antioxidants, digestive enzymes, liver detoxifiers, fatty acids, herbs and hormone boosters. Many of the supplements are aimed at cutting down the side effects of powerful HIV drugs. These can include anemia, appetite loss and bloating gas, elevated cholesterol, high triglycerides and diarrhea. These side effects are often so severe that 49 percent of patients who start HIV drugs skip or stop taking them, Walters said.

Walters had to learn about nutrition for those with serious illnesses the hard way. When he was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1994, he found out how expensive staying healthy could be. He went to a local health food store where he bought nine products. He was horrified when the cash register showed he owed almost $250.

So he banded together with a few friends and started a nonprofit organization to provide supplements and vitamins to the chronically ill at a low price. He found that doctors didn’t know much more than he did. Those newly diagnosed with AIDS were on their own in the early 90s, as much was still being discovered about nutritional treatments and how to combat the dangerous side effects of AIDS drugs. And so Walters learned, by holding and attending seminars, by reading the latest findings and by discussing treatment options with friends who also were positive.

The Buyers Club now has a mailing list of 20,000.  They also have become the place to go for information and advice on HIV nutritional treatment and side effects, with doctors and AIDS organizations asking for their research results every day.

The Buyers Club only marks up its products 5 to 22 percent, a much lower increase than most stores. Those without chronic illness are catching on to the good deals. Walters welcomes  them too. “Anyone who shops here  is helping us,” he said.

Mission Statement: To improve the quality of life for people with health-related conditions through nutritional education and affordable nutritional supplements. Houston Buyers Club is a project of the Program For Side Effects Management a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.

Copyright © 2008 Houston Buyers Club 800-350-2392 or info@houstonbuyersclub.com