My 14th annHIVersary: a day for hope, not sadness
Saturday 2 January 2021 is my 14th annHIVersary — the day in 2007 I received my HIV-positive diagnosis.
It is certainly not a day for personal sadness. I think of it as a bittersweet anniversary: I’ve learned so much since that day — about the virus and treatment, as well as about myself and others.
I’ve met so many amazing and brilliant people who have helped me to believe that anything is possible, if you are organised and try hard enough.
Not drowning in my history
It’s a day to remind myself of how the support of my peers and volunteering in the HIV sector helped me to cope with the emotional burden the virus brings.
No one of sound mind would choose to get a life-threatening virus, but I can’t change the past — I’m not entirely sure I would want to even if it were possible — so I have to own it and lead the best life I can.
I hope my little passenger has made me a better and more compassionate person.
It’s also a day to be eternally grateful such effective treatment exists in 2021, that I am able to access the best regime free of charge thanks to the NHS, and that I can’t pass the virus on: U=U.
Long-acting injectable treatment was approved late last year and, while still in its relative infancy as well as currently being expensive, it will start to give people living with the virus new treatment options.
And it’s also a day to shout about PrEP, which has transformed the lives of many of my friends who are from communities most affected by HIV. It’s worth saying yet again that it’s not just useful for gay men with busy lives!
What the future holds
On this day in 14 years from now, it’ll be 2035. In the UK will we have reached the target of zero new cases by 2030?
Around the world will everyone who needs HIV treatment and prevention be able to access it?
Will people living with HIV finally be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, and not pushed further to the margins of society for having a treatable and preventable medical condition?
Will we have already forgotten what the COVID pandemic has taught us about the need to properly resource our public health infrastructure and civil society? Will our communities and societies be more equal and fair?
Buckle up: the satnav is set but the journey is going to be bumpy.
I thought I’d reshare the blog post I wrote for National AIDS Trust about my own journey and why I’ll keep trying my hardest — as will many others far more knowledgeable and smarter than I ever will be — to amplify the voices of people living with HIV.
- A big thank-you to Chris Jepson for the photo, which comes from The IDENTITY Project — do check out his other portraits of our LGBTQ+ community
- My Undetectable = Untransmittable T-shirt is made by Bristol-based House of Legendary Children, who designed it in partnership with Brigstowe, an HIV support charity based in the city
HIV facts:
- HIV [Human Immunodeficiency Virus] attacks the immune system and weakens the body’s ability to fight diseases.
- Antiretroviral medication — also called ARVs, combination therapy, or HIV treatment — lowers the amount of the virus in the blood to undetectable levels, which stops it from damaging the immune system, and means it cannot be passed on to other people.
- HIV treatment is now extremely effective and easier to take than ever before. Many people take just one or a few pills once a day.
- A person with HIV should live just as long as an HIV-negative person — especially if they are diagnosed early and begin treatment.
- There is still a great deal of stigma about HIV. Stigma is damaging as it prevents people from getting tested, from accessing treatment and from living a happy and healthy life.
- Aids [Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome] can develop when HIV damages the immune system to such an extent that it can no longer fight off a range of often rare infections it would normally be able to cope with. In the UK, the term ‘late-stage HIV’ is now generally used as it is much less stigmatising. HIV treatment stops the virus from damaging a person’s immune system.
- HIV cannot be passed on through casual or day-to-day contact. It cannot be transmitted through kissing, spitting, or sharing a cup, plate or toilet seat.
Related stories:
- April 2020: COVID-19: physically distant but still connected to my LGBT+ community
- January 2020: The Undetectables: U=U, PrEP and a decade with HIV
- January 2019: Baring all about HIV and U=U
- March 2018: The Inheritance is this generation’s Angels in America
- January 2018: I have just found out I am HIV positive: what do I do now?
- December 2017: World Aids Day: community, fear and hope
- July 2017: Why I walk with Pride
