Atlanta, Georgia
Positive since 1987

I have been living with HIV for such a long time—half of my life—that I can hardly remember not having the virus. Being diagnosed back in the ’80s was really more of a death sentence to me, and I thought the only thing I had to look forward to was getting sick and dying.

I live in Atlanta and I used to measure my longevity by the ’96 Olympics,  because I didn’t think I would be alive to see it. There were only a few meds back then, and no one seemed to know how to prescribe the correct dosage. So many of them were overprescribed.

I tried them early on, but they made me so sick that I decided that I didn’t want to be sick for 10 years and then die anyway. So by the time the Atlanta Olympics came along, I was at my worst. I was having so many skin problems. I had gout, I had lost weight and my CD4s were down to 29.

But I had also met the love of my life and my job was going really well. I decided that I didn’t want to die and started seeking treatment. Melanie Thompson was my doctor at the time and she really brought me back to life. Over the next several years, I started fighting back—and I won!

I think I have been blessed by not having major problems with my virus and never having to take disability or be admitted to the hospital. How I wish that was the same for the friends I’ve lost over the years.

The one problem for me was the side effects of the meds that I took over the years. I had early-onset diabetes and of course lipodystrophy, due largely in part to the Zerit and Kaletra I had to take. Although it is sad to me that anyone is diagnosed with HIV today, there are two things I’m grateful for: It is no longer a death sentence and the doctors know which meds cause lipodystrophy, so that no one has to suffer through that anymore.

So, 27 years later, I am a healthy, undetectable man doing the best I can to stay that way. My partner of 21 years has passed and I am still here.

What adjective best describe you?
I’m a survivor.

What is your greatest achievement?
As vain as it may seem, I had filler injections in my face to combat the loss of fat due to lipodystrophy.

What is your greatest regret?
Not caring more about my sexual behavior back in the ’80s

What keeps you up at night?
Right now, loneliness

If you could change one thing about living with HIV, what would it be?
I don’t know that I would focus so much on the HIV as much as I would like to find a way to reverse lipodystrophy.

What is the best advice you ever received?
Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get on with your life!

What person in the HIV/AIDS community do you most admire?
Mark Hebert, my current caretaker at Absolute Care, and Mark King, who I had the pleasure to meet on a 2013 cruise for people living with HIV/AIDS.

What drives you to do what you do?
I finally have retirement as a possibility and so that is what I focus on today. Although having a great man to share it with would be amazing.

What is your motto?
I don’t really have a motto.

If you had to evacuate your house immediately, what is the one thing you would grab on the way out?
My partner’s ashes

If you could be any animal, what would you be? And why?
As odd as it may seem, a dog. I have the kind of unconditional love that my dog gives me every day when I come home.