Having cheated death, an HIVer finds a way to take Fuzeon without a needle
Beejay Farfanick 43, Toronto Marketing Consultant Diagnosed 1990
The history: “I’ve been on every med there is and have resistance to most. When I nearly died from an opportunistic infection in 1994, I realized I had to become educated to fight this virus.”
The combo: “I’ve climbed back from that near-death experience, and now I take three nukes and two boosted protease inhibitors and inject the entry inhibitor Fuzeon (enfuvirtide) twice a day. Nutritional supplements play a big role in my HIV health-care regimen, too.”
The shot: “I’m not afraid of needles, but I ran out of places to inject—I was covered with bumps and bruises. I dubbed myself ‘Lumpy.’”
The gadget: “There’s a needle-free gun, Biojector 2000, for Fuzeon now. It lets you shoot at more sites with fewer reactions. It’s like a bikini wax—not painless, but not bad. Just avoid the inner thigh—very sensitive—and find spots with some fat.”
The result:“With this multidrug combo, my viral load is undetectable and my T cells are 685. I watched an old video of me when I had two T cells and weighed 98 pounds. You would never believe that was me.”
The challenge: “I’ve gone back into the community, educating people. The message I bring is, ‘Don’t wait around for the drug companies to push pills—you have to take control of your own life and health.’”
