“Have you ever thought what you would do if you were positive?” Brad, a volunteer from a local HIV treatment center, waited for my response. He looked anxious, I realized, because he was worried about me. Worried because a second red line had beaded together beneath the first. Worried because the test reacted to antibodies in my blood. Worried because my body was fighting HIV. Worried because I had HIV.
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My HIV Story: I Have Had HIV For More Than Half My Life
*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
At the age of 51, I have been HIV-positive for more than half of my life. In the summer of 1990, I received my diagnosis while living in New York City. I was 25 years old. I will never know for certain how I contracted the virus. At the time, I was in a two-year monogamous relationship with an HIV-positive partner and we vigilantly practiced safe sex. My biannual HIV tests were routinely negative until that summer. Of course, I was surprised
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My HIV Story: Living Outside The U.S. with HIV
*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
As someone who was born HIV-positive and is currently working in the HIV field as a housing specialist, I have seen and witnessed firsthand the effects stigma has on a person’s health. Stigma is defined as the shame and guilt that are attached to a topic that is considered socially unacceptable. Over the years I have seen many people, both living with HIV or affected by HIV be discriminated against simply because they are either HIV-positive
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My HIV Story: Losing My Lover, Finding Myself
*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
Around five o’clock, February 15, 2013, I rushed from school to an appointment with my doctor. I was called in on a short notice and when I arrived, my doctor already left for the day. Oddly enough, the nurse called him on his cell phone and he told me personally that he’ll be on his way back to the office. I never thought too much of it. I was at the doctor for a checkup because I was suffering from giardiasis for the past couple of months.
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My HIV Story: Defying The Odds – I Was Born With HIV
*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
There was a woman who was addicted to drugs, and by sharing needles she contracted HIV. I was born in 1998; this woman gave birth to me. My birthday was also the day that her husband would learn of her HIV status. She had neglected to tell him and continued refusing to until the doctors withheld her pain medications and she confessed. The husband, my father, fought for me. He fought to save me from this addict. He fought to save my life.
The
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My HIV Story: The Reality of Being HIV-Positive
*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
It was the week after I took an HIV test that I got a call from my doctor to come into her office to discuss the results. Prior to that test, I hadn’t been tested a year and a half. Subconsciously, I had assumed that I was invincible—I was young and healthy and rarely sick. I knew that my sexual encounters had an inherent risk of HIV transmission and while I didn’t always use a condom, I believed that the risk of contracting the virus was too
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My HIV Story: I Have HIV and HPV
*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
I was living in with an ex-boyfriend; we were still sleeping together. I had made a life for myself where we were and I didn’t want to relocate. He began telling me that I needed to go get checked. Subsequently, I got an STD check and was told that I am HIV-positive and that I also have HPV (human papillomavirus) as well. At the time, I looked at it as being a death sentence and did not know what I was going to do or how long my life would
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My HIV Story: Being Told That We Need To Talk
*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
2012 was going to be a year of big changes in my life. I was right, but not in the way I predicted at all. The last few months of 2011 saw the end of my first long term relationship, my mother checking into rehab to face what had been a lifetime battle with alcohol addiction, helping my siblings cope with this big step she was taking and enrolling myself in classes to further my education. I had spent the last three months on a roller coaster
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