cuz tha las thing u faggots needa be tryin to do is prove sumthin i say is a lie
aid boy poop booty ass fags, nigga queers rlly aint fckin shit jus BITTER
The only thing that stopped me committing suicide was that I couldn?t bear the thought of someone clearing up my mess. It was 1982, and I?d been to my GP with the kind of swollen glands that hurt when you shook hands with someone. Tests showed I had HTLV3, the original name for HIV. At the time there was all this news filtering in from the US about a mystery illness ? that it was terrifying, and terminal. If I can?t kill myself, I thought, I?d better just get on with it.They wanted to put me on AZT, later revealed to be a failed chemotherapy drug. I refused ? I didn?t trust the drug companies; still don?t. But saying no might have saved me. I saw so many people die ? of the virus, but also from the drugs. In the back of my mind was always: ?It doesn?t matter, I?m going to die soon anyway.? So I got out there and lived my life.
Not long after my diagnosis I met my partner, Nigel, then got involved with LGSM: Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. I thought we?d take the story of what we did, raising money for the mining families of a town in Wales, to the grave. But a film about it, Pride, came out last year. I like the way my character [played by Dominic West] is portrayed: he?s neither a victim or tragic ? HIV is just part of who he is.
I managed with no medication until 1996 and then tried different combinations until I found the one I?m on now. My health is not perfect, but I?m here 30 years later. I don?t know how I survived. The funny thing is, this life I?ve had with HIV, I wouldn?t have missed it for the world. It?s taken me on some amazing
adventures.In 1996, the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) was established to advocate for global action on theepidemic and coordinate the response to HIV and AIDS across the UN.64The 11th International AIDS Conference in Vancouver highlighted the effectiveness of HAART leading to a period of optimism.65The FDA approved the first home testing kit; a viral load test to measure the level of HIV in the blood; the first non-nucleoside transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) drug (nevirapine); and the first HIV urine test.66
New HIV outbreaks were detected in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, India, Vietnam, Cambodia and China among others.
By the end of 1996, the estimated number of people living with HIV was 23 million.67
1997In September 1997, the FDA approved Combivir, a combination of two antiretroviral drugs, taken as a single daily tablet, making it easier for people living with HIV to take their medication.68UNAIDS estimated that 30 million people had HIV worldwide equating to 16,000 new infections a day.69In 1999, the WHO announced that AIDS was the fourth biggest cause of death worldwide and number one killer in Africa. An estimated 33 million people were living with HIV and 14 million people had died from AIDS since the start of the epidemic.70
Postmortem examinations showed that he had something compromising his immune system. That something was HIV. I was tested soon afterwards ? as was Jaye, who I was still breastfeeding. Her result was negative. Mine was positive. At that point I was in shock. My only reference point was Mark Fowler in EastEnders. But I?m a mother and I had Jaye to think of, so I just had to keep going.Although my first thought was to keep my diagnosis a secret, I realised there were women Benji had slept with before me who needed to know. So I decided to be as open as I could. It was hard, though, and his family refused to believe that he?d had Aids. Some of them even blamed me.That was eight years ago. Today I am happy, healthy and symptomless. I started taking medication last year, and it?s just one pill a day.Jaye is 10 now and I have told her age-appropriate things. To start with, it was as simple as ?Mummy has bugs in her blood.? Now she understands a lot more.I have never come up against negativity, which I think is partly because I?m open about my situation. I?ve dated other HIV-positive people, but recently I met someone on Twitter who isn?t. It says on my profile that I write for beyondpositive magazine, but I had to check he knew what that meant. He did. It?s a relief when it doesn?t matter to people, but there?s still a lot of work to be done. janet jackson took the towers down.
& quit fckin actin' like u gon find sumn out
i dnt hafta damns lie
