Editing Pedro Zamora (section)

===1994: After ''The Real World'' and death===
[[Image:1994 Nov Pedro Zamora and family.jpg|thumb|right|Pedro Zamora a few days before his death with his father and most of his siblings.]]
The cast vacated the Real World house on June 19, 1994, and the first episodes of ''[[The Real World: San Francisco]]'' began airing a week later. Zamora visited his family in [[Miami]] before returning to San Francisco to live with Sasser.<ref name=PedroAndMe119-137>Winick (2000). pp. 119-137.</ref>

When Winick, Zamora, Murphy, and Ling met in August for a reunion party, Zamora was visibly ill. Once talkative, he was often silent, having difficulty following conversations, and forgetting familiar places. He went to the MTV offices in New York, and could not recognize where he was.<ref name=People11.28.94/><ref name=PedroAndMe119-137/> On August 17, Zamora checked into [[St. Vincent's Hospital, Manhattan|St. Vincent's Hospital]] and was diagnosed with [[toxoplasmosis]], a condition that causes [[brain]] [[lesions]], fatigue, [[headaches]] and [[mental confusion|confusion]]. Further tests revealed he had [[progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy]] (PML),<ref name=PedroAndMe119-137/><ref name=POZ/> a very rare and usually fatal viral inflammation of the brain that disrupts the electrical impulses of the [[nervous system]]. PML can dissipate on its own in patients with [[T-cell]] counts higher than 300–400. At the time, Zamora's T-cell count was 32. The inflammation was attacking the [[frontal lobes|frontal lobe]] of his brain, causing his short-term memory loss. Zamora was given three to four months to live.<ref name=PedroAndMe119-137/>

On September 3, about three weeks after checking into St. Vincent's, Zamora was flown to Mercy Hospital in Miami, and his family gathered around him.<ref name="Tribute"/><ref name=People11.28.94/> Then-President [[Bill Clinton]] called Zamora to thank him for his work.<ref name="Tribute" /> Zamora is said to have expressed elation and was able to respond,<ref name="PedroAndMe141-146">Winick (2000). pp. 141-146.</ref> though Mily Zamora stated that whether he understood who was calling is unclear, given the severity of his PML.<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news |url=http://www.qrd.org/qrd/media/television/1994/real.world.star.new.death-10.10.94 |title=AIDS activist, near death, to see family from Cuba |agency=Reuters |date=October 7, 1994 |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref><ref name="People11.28.94" />

As a gesture of gratitude for his work, Clinton asked if there was anything he could do for the Zamora family. They replied that they wanted Zamora's remaining siblings in Cuba to be with him in his final days. This resulted in Alonso R. del Portillo, [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Janet Reno]], [[United States Secretary of Health and Human Services|Secretary of Health and Human Services]] [[Donna Shalala]], and Florida [[United States House of Representatives|Congresswoman]] [[Ileana Ros-Lehtinen]] forming an agreement with Cuba that would admit 20,000 Cubans per year to the United States. Zamora's three brothers and their families arrived in the next couple of weeks, reuniting the family for the first time in 14 years.<ref name="People11.28.94" /><ref name="PedroAndMe141-146"/><ref name="Reuters"/>

On October 21, Winick announced that MTV had set up a trust fund in order to pay for Zamora's medical costs, as Zamora had no [[medical insurance]].<ref name="Tribute"/><ref name="People11.28.94"/><ref>[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,303927,00.html "'Real' Life Support"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203004435/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,303927,00.html |date=December 3, 2013 }}. ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''. September 30, 1994.</ref> He had received [[Medicaid]], but was rejected for any private company coverage due his [[pre-existing condition]] of HIV.<ref name="People11.28.94"/>

Before his hospitalization, Zamora told his family to not keep him alive by artificial means—his mother had a prolonged death, and he wanted to spare his family that pain. Zamora developed a high fever.<ref name="wpbt"/> Once he became unresponsive, his family honored his wishes and withdrew [[life support]]. Surrounded by his family, longtime friend Alex Escarano, Sasser, Winick, and Ling, Zamora died at 4:40&nbsp;a.m. [[North American Eastern Standard Time Zone|EST]] on November 11, 1994, at the age of 22, hours after the final episode of ''The Real World: San Francisco'' aired.<ref name="People11.28.94"/><ref name="MiamiHerald"/><ref name="PedroAndMe146-161">Winick (2000). pp. 146-161.</ref> He was buried on November 13.<ref name="PedroAndMe146-161"/>