POZ columnist and blogger Shawn Decker will receive the Whitman-Walker Clinic’s Courage Award at the October 3 opening ceremony of Washington, DC’s 23rd annual AIDS Walk, The Washington Post reports.

Decker, 34, who contracted HIV from contaminated blood products as a child, is being recognized along with his wife, Gwenn Barringer, for their work raising HIV awareness as bloggers, authors and motivational speakers.

“I don’t feel particularly courageous,” Decker told the Post regarding the honor. “But when I think about the scared little kid who didn’t know what to do and thought HIV was a death notice, I think back to those times when I had to dig down deep and reflect.”