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I know what it is like. I was sick in 1979, diagnosed in 1983. Life with HIV/aids is not easy. There are no local support people in Boston MA.
Thanks for an excellent intro to you. I can relate to your journey so far. Thankfully, I am the best I have been in years, both emotional and physically. As a career Navy sailor, the loss of my identity was the same as your experience. It defined who and what I was. I was diagnosed in May 2011 and still remember the horror of that day and the next 3 years to follow. I was a single dad of son entering his freshman year in high school, I was engaged to a nurse who I had been with for 4 years. It was like a bomb had blown up my life and I was trying to catch the pieces as they fell from the air. I was utterly alone. I have always had a strained relationship with my family, so they were not people I would ever share my story with, except my mother, who was having cancer surgery three days after I was told my diagnosis. She would learn to live with a colostomy bag and I would learn to live with HIV. I was dealing with PTSD and sexual abuse prior to this bomb in my life; so luckily, I was able to meet two wonderful and compassionate therapists who were there to guide me through this new battlefield that was unlike any other I had encountered. And, I had been to war and found that not the least bit as terrorizing as my new life with HIV. Thanks for sharing your story, and welcome to your new role at POZ.com. I will look forward to reading your blog!!! Don
Hi Jay...it seems like you have sure been through a lot with it all...I do like your determination to stay in the game though and this is inspiring to me too...btw, are you a top or bottom? Just wondering.....:)
Nice introduction Jay. I'm looking forward to reading your future blogs. Continued success... : )
MAT STRAZZ
Like you, I have been on a hard road. Sick in '79, diagnosed in 1983. It's been hell, but alive is better than dead. Where are the young activists? We are talking about generations of gay men who act like HIV is no big deal. They need to know the truth. 50% of gay men are going to get HIV. THIS IS CRAZY! We know how not to get it, and we have Truvada. Every school must teach about STDs and HIV. This is a gay disease that also infects others. We must stop trying to white wash the truth. Half a million gay men in the USA dead and counting up every day. If this is not the first issue of gay life, what is. We need pickets at every state house, in every major city. GAY LIVES MATTER. Where are the leaders? GET mad, get angry, AND ORGANIZE.
May 22, 2015