Kaplan, Louisiana
HIV-Negative

In October 2008 I was at home feeling really depressed and lonely, and my best friend MADE me go out with her to see the midnight showing of Rocky Horror at a local community theater because she knew how much I loved the movie. So I went with her. I ended up falling in love with the actress who played Riff Raff that night, and my life has never been depressing again. Riff Raff, who is now my wife, is HIV positive.

We got married and she gave birth to our son, Ian. I have become an HIV educator in our community and a mentor to the young kids. My wife speaks at the local university every semester to the "Death and Dying" class. We live in a small community, with uneducated people who think they are immune to this disease. What they don’t realize is that HIV stares at them in the face everyday.

I am a restaurant manager and my wife is a supervisor for a major oil company. We plan on having more children and through the grace of fabulous medications and great caring doctors, my wife can have children without worrying about passing the virus on to them. I’m glad to share my story.

What three adjectives best describe you?
Caring, kind, and loveable  

What is your greatest achievement?
Being a wife and mother  

What is your greatest regret?
No regrets  

What keeps you up at night?
My wife flipping and flopping in bed  

If you could change one thing about living with HIV, what would it be?
To not have it in our lives, of course  

What is the best advice you ever received?
Treat people with respect and don’t judge  

What person in the HIV/AIDS community do you most admire?
My wife...she’s strong and courageous and I love her deep in my soul  

What drives you to do what you do?
My family  

What is your motto?
The golden rule  

If you had to evacuate your house immediately, what is the one thing you would grab on the way out?
My wife, son, dogs and wife’s cello  

If you could be any animal, what would you be? And why?
An eagle so I could soar across the sky and see the world



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