LAKEWOOD - The red splotches that appeared on Jonathan's chest sent a stab of terror down his mother's spine.

It looked like chicken pox — a common childhood illness that would almost certainly mean death for this 5-year-old boy, who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion shortly after birth.

Since the splotches appeared Wednesday, doctors have determined that a bacterial infection — not chicken pox — caused the marks on the chest of this youngster who has captured Colorado's attention with his successful fight to gain admission to Jefferson County schools.

But the incident was a terrifying one for his mother, Sheila, who has asked that her last name not be used. And she had feared that she was the one to blame.

Only a day before she'd broken out with shingles, which is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox in children. Had she unwittingly — but lethally — exposed her son?

"I'm scared. I'm terribly scared," said Sheila. "I can talk about his upcoming death, but it's not like I'm talking abut my son. I've disassociated it. But then something like this happens, and you're forced to think about it. I can't imagine life without him."

This time, the story will have a happy ending, although Jonathan's doctors say such episodes are common in the lives of AIDS victims — and any one of them has the potential to kill.

Jonathan was given an anti-viral medication and kept under observation at the hospital. "He's been a wonderful, playful patient. He's never batted an eye," said Dr. Jim Lustig, the boy's pediatrician. He said the infection's arrival a day after Sheila's bout with shingles was coincidence.

"It was just serendipity," he said. "Obviously, I'll continue to watch Jonathan very closely." Lustig said Jonathan likely will leave the hospital today. He will stay with his grandmother until Shiela's shingles clear up. That could take several days, she said.

Shingles is often brought on by stress — a condition Sheila says she's had in double doses since her son was diagnosed three years ago.

She believes she may have contracted the virus while on a cruise last month. A stranger who heard of Shiela's plight paid for the cruise so she could relax and briefly escape her worries.

"I'm not contagious to almost everyone, but I'm contagious to those people who never had chicken pox, and that fell right into my son's category," Sheila said. "If anything happened, you know how I'll feel. I'll feel so guilty. I'll always blame myself."