Daniel

Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Positive Since: September 9, 1988
Relationship Status: Single
Age: 46
Favorite Movie: The Color Purple

I can remember some childhood friends but most of them I do not. I guess it’s really the reason why I’m a loner when it comes to friends, even to this very day.

How exactly I became infected with HIV remains a mystery to this day. I either got infected when I had my ear pierced the old school way with a needle and thread right behind a cousin that later died immediately before his 30th birthday (of something ‘cancer related’ that was never talked about,) or I was infected when I had a biopsy done in a hospital that required the use of blood plasma production. It’s also possible I was exposed to the virus when I was having unprotected sex. Since unprotected sex was number one on the roulette wheel of HIV transmission, this was the route of transmission my medical providers assumed when it came to treatment. No other possible HIV transmission path was tabled for consideration.

Though I tested positive back in September of 1988, I never went back for my test results. It wasn’t until seven years later when working for Glide that I came to terms with the fact that I was indeed HIV positive after testing myself at a health fair. The feeling in itself seemed surreal. As intelligent as I considered myself to be at the time, I lacked the basic understanding about the HIV virus and what the doctors where telling me. Eventually I did some backtracking and found out that I did have a positive test result back in 1988.

Once I finally came to terms with my HIV status I fell into a deep, self-destructing, drunken state of denial. I climbed inside a bottle of alcohol and pushed everyone that loved me and was in my life at the time completely away. I didn’t want anyone near me. I never made life plans nor did I have the vision for anything long-term in life.

The first person I told was my mother. She was the only person in my life at the time whose opinion really mattered to me. The best response after my disclosure came from my mother and the people in my life who really cared about me and loved me. No matter how drunk I got, how nasty and self-destructive I became, my mother told me that she would be there for me until “The Wheels Fall Off!” And she was! I do believe that my mother would indeed have a powerful story to tell because she overcame many hardships to be the woman she is today.