Kingman, Arizona
Positive since 1991

I was very fortunate for most of the years after I tested positive in 1991—until 2007, when I moved to the ignorant, backwards town of Kingman, Arizona, to take care of my mother, who had Alzheimer’s. Since her death in 2009, I have remained in this place because I have not had the funds to move.  

I worked in the HIV/AIDS field for many years in California, and never have I seen disgust for HIV-positive people the way I have seen it here. There are whispers and stares at doctors’ offices; there is favoritism shown to other housing participants; people here even disclose your status without your knowledge. I have learned a lot in this rural town.

I applaud Arizona for its state-paid health care. What I do not applaud is the ignorance. I have met people who already knew that I was HIV positive before I told them. People gossip and do not care about the avalanche it causes. And people here say ignorant things like, “You should be living it up. You’re going to die soon.” I have actually punched a few people; yes, punched them.  

If you have services that work for you, then use them. If you have a good support system, help maintain that. If you have friends and family that support you, love them.

I moved here to help my mother. Had I known that the support here for people living with HIV was so horrible, I would not have done it. This place is so afraid of even saying “HIV.” And if you speak up about HOPWA, Ryan White services or anything related to HIV, you are labeled a troublemaker.  

I worked my tail off in California and ruffled feathers for many years at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health in the AIDS and STD division; I try to help out here and they are just so lazy and unreceptive.  

I want to move to Prescott Valley, Arizona, because there is an AIDS project there with a much more active positive community. I have not been able to attend a support group in seven years.

So my real message is this: Be thankful for what you have in metropolitan areas, whether you are newly diagnosed or have been positive for many years. Help one another and support one another.

What three adjectives best describe you?
Fighter, forthright and spiritual

What is your greatest achievement?
Receiving a California State Legislative Award for my work preventing HIV in the African-American community

What is your greatest regret?
Not staying with my partner Jimmie Veley

What keeps you up at night?
Nothing anymore!

If you could change one thing about living with HIV, what would it be?
Not living here!

What is the best advice you ever received?
Finish college and keep working. It saved my life.

What person in the HIV/AIDS community do you most admire?
Deborah Morales. She gave me a chance in the HIV/AIDS field, and we did a lot of great work together.

What drives you to do what you do?
I’m still alive. I’m smart. I’m Irish and Yugoslavian and my parents taught me to work and learn, no matter what your plight.

What is your motto?
“‘No’ has not any place in any vocabulary.”

If you had to evacuate your house immediately, what is the one thing you would grab on the way out?
My dog, Baby Spice
 
If you could be any animal, what would you be? And why?
I would be a camel. They’re smarter than most other animals and have endurance like no other.