Young People Living with HIV 21-Apr-2008

Anon

at 16 never thought it would happen to me i had just moved to england a few years back and i could say i was cought up living my life in the fast lane. met a really nice guy who was a freind of my cousins he was south african. i had sex with him for his birthday and didnt use protection because i was on the depo-vera contraceptive injection STDs never crossed my mind at the heat of the moment.

a month later he went on holiday with his family back to south africa. just a few days after he was gone i started having severe abdominal pains so i visited my doctor who suggested food poisoning. after taking the required sosaged of anti-biotics the pain did not go anywere.

i returned to my doctor who then suggested it was thrush caused by the anti-biotics i was taking so i had the day treatment. since my GP had told me i had thrush i decided to get a full check up to see if anything else was wrong so i got a sexual health screen.

two weeks passed and i didnot hear from the clinic so i was very happy because they had said " no news is really good news" but then my fone rang when i was watching T.V with my family and it was my health adviser from the clinic she told me i had to come in because the test had revealed i had chlamydia so i had to pick up my treatment

i was very reluctant to go because i thought it was nothing serious but when i got there i was taken to a small room and had the news that I WAS HIV POSITIVE frankly i did not know what my reaction was supposed to be. my boyfreind came back and i told him the news on his day of arrival and evrything has changed we have drifted apart

well i cant say anymore because my boyfreind just came back a week ago and the story of my life continues a life at the moment seems so empty but i guess there is a reason and a plan for everything so in god i will believe

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Anna

My name is Anna, I am 10 years old living in Namibia. I realized at my very young age that i am HIV positive. I develop lots of skin problem which never heal , and i heard my so called parent talking that i am HIV positive. I am not shock Because I did not look for it i don`t know sex i only hear people talking about it. I know even if i die i am going to heaven.

My mother passed away in 2000,for HIV related illness, i saw her, when she was sick, She was very thin and i used to read in different books about this deadly illness. I don`t know who my father is. But i know that both my parents are dead and i have no parent left. I only have my brother from a different father. My life is a disaster, i have my aunty who is looking after me but that is not enough. My parents are very important to me. There is a man who claim to be my father but i know that is not true. I wonder if my really father liked me. Although i don`t know who he is. I also wonder why he gave me to Samuel my so called father. I am saying my so called father because i don`t know if he is my really father.

What i really want is love i want someone who will love me as i suppose to be loved and care for me and my brother. Please help or i should just die and go to where my parent are..........

Thank you.

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Maria

Today is November 12th 2003.. You can call me Maria ..I wanted to share my story cause GOD pressed it upon my heart to tell it ... and also the majority of the women who told their stories are similar but very different than mine .. I ask you to be patient and read my life..

I am a 18 year old female ... Born with HIV ... I was reading some of the stories of the women giving birth to healthy babies ... but not have heard of the ones who have giving birth to HIV infected ones. I am not aware like most of you how I got HIV ... Meaning my parents, I made a decision not to ask or want to know, cause it does not matter now.

My mother and father were both HIV positive. MY mother died when I was only 3 years old. To this day I do not know what it is like to have a mother. I can feel the pain she felt knowing that one day she would not be around to raise me or watch me grow. Leaving everything in gods hands I know she's at peace. I grew up not knowing why I was taking meds or why I visited the hospital every month or why they took blood...till one day my father told me. He's currently living still HIV positive at the age of 65. I sensed it was hard for my father to raise me not knowing himself when he might pass. But god has been so good to me and my family. In the midst of 7 operations my father underwent, always in and out of the hospital. God has seen us through... I remember one time I was about 6 my father had a seizure in my house, I had called 911 they came. I remember being so scared. when the paramedics got there his heart had stopped to a couple of seconds and they put the shock to his chest to make his heart beat again ... I was praying so hard to god to let my father live. Because he was the only thing I had left. Then his heart began to beat. As I grew older I became a woman all by myself. Because my father couldn't show me how to become a woman. I took on responsibilities ... And when I hit my teen years. This was the most difficult time for me to understand why & how & why me & my family... I went to church regularly. By this time I was off medication because it made me feel worse then it did better. I never told my father or doctors I wasn't taking them. Which I'm not saying is a good idea but I wanted to be in control of my life... I had a good relationship with God and I knew he would prove the world wrong thru me. It is not up to your doctor to say how long you will live or how sick you will get.... Here I am 18 years later and about to celebrate my 19th birthday next week... AND THEY SAID I WOULDN'T LIVE PAST 8 YEARS OLD. I haven't been on any Medication and I have been undetectable for 9yrs somebody tell me how?? I have just recently confessed to my doctors and family that I have been off medications. They support anything I do. I also thought it would be so hard to find a boyfriend who would except me the way I am.. and I have. I was young but God brought me love ... at 13 I met my boyfriend to this day. I told him a week after we met he said he loved me and it didn't matter. we have been together for 5 years now and are older and understand how serious my HIV can get. But with god's help we will continue a normal life. kids the whole 9 yards... Now you must be thinking how IM going to have kids right? well its silly but true.... Turkey basters. aaa yes ... don't ask but it works. I've herd of stories like that.

Thank you for letting me share my story. DEDICATED TO ALL HIV POSITIVE MOTHERS BECAUSE I CAME FROM ONE AND I DON'T REGRET ONE DAY IN MY LIFE OR HER FOR LOOSING HERS AND LEAVING ME TO LIVE MINE WITH STRENGTH FROM HER & GOD.

GOD BLESS ... YOU ALL..... MARIA ... NEW YORK CITY ....

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Tequilla

I have been HIV positive for almost two years and I'm 13 years old. I found out I was positive when I was 12 years old. My mom took me to the hospital and they tested me and told me to come back in one month. So we waited that whole month and it was time to go see if I had HIV. My mom and I went back to the hospital and the nurse came in and she said you are HIV positive. My mom broke down in tears and I was just looking at her and the nurse asked me if I understood and I shook my head. The nurse said you can die if you don't take your medicine. She gave me and my mom a number with some writing on it and she said schedule an appointment to see a doctor. We left and when I got home my mom told my step daddy. He was crying and we sat down and we had a long conversation. We scheduled an appointment and they told my mom to bring me that week, so she did. We went to my appointment and the people were very nice and respectful. They took me and my mom in a room and they talked to me. They told me about all the medicine that can keep me alive. I met people who knew about HIV and I was thinking they can teach me some things about HIV. They told me do not stop taking your medicine because the virus would find a way to start making you immune to your meds. I started to play around and runaway and not take my meds with me and I got sick, so they had to stop those meds. They gave me more and I took them and I got better. Stay safe and protect yourself against HIV.