Age 55-59

Proscovia, age 55 / Tororo, Uganda

December 1, 2017 by admin

For a long time, I have been working with the media. I have been writing my stories, and that’s how I’ve been getting support. That has allowed me to be what I am today. I trained as teacher, and so at a teacher’s college I was taking charge of adolescent youth, and that was […]

Categories: Africa, Age 55-59, Female • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, caregiving, children/parenthood, class, Corruption, dating, disclosure, domestic violence, employment discrimination, employment/retirement, faith/spirituality, family, finances, grandchildren, helping others, Housing, inheritance/wills, intergenerational, isolation, married/life partner(s), NGOs, nutrition, opportunistic infections, pre/post-test counseling, side effects, stigma, stress, support, treatment access, treatment adherence, Uganda, Viral load/”undetectable”, World AIDS Day

Jesse, age 59 / Ellicot City, Maryland, USA

June 9, 2017 by admin

I was aware that I was likely positive. My late partner died of AIDS in 1985, and I am very certain that I had a transmission in about September of 1982 because I had a sexual encounter with my partner and the immediate biological response was a classic transmission response. And those symptoms were […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Male, North America • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, AZT/pre-"cocktail" medications, caregiving, Caring for Older Adults, coordinated care, death/dying, doctor/patient relationship, drug interactions, employment discrimination, faith/spirituality, family, finances, gratitude, heart health, HIV & the law, kidney health, long-range thinking, long-term survivors, married/life partner, personalized treatment, polypharmacy, serodiscordant couple, Social Security/Medicare, support, United States

Kim, age 59/Melbourne, Australia

June 7, 2017 by admin

I first learned I was positive in 1994. I was unwell and went to a friend of mine who was my doctor as well, and he just threw every test at me possible, and a couple of weeks later he hadn’t got back to me, so I rang him. I just happened to be […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Asia-Pacific, Female • Tags: advocacy, Art/creativity, Australia, caregiving, children/parenthood, doctor/patient relationship, family, helping others, HIV/AIDS community dynamics, HIV/AIDS education, pre/post-test counseling, stigma, Women & Girls, working in HIV/AIDS community

Jesus, age 56/Mexico & California, USA

June 5, 2017 by admin

I arrived to USA in 1984. I knew what started to be in the news, everything about the gay cancer and things. Honestly I was not jumping from bed to bed or things like that – I was kind of “a good boy” – but still, I was having sex. And I was really […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Male, North America, uncategorized • Tags: ageism, alternative medicine, dating, denial, dignity/respect, disclosure, helping others, HIV & the law, Housing, Immigration, Kaposi sarcoma, long-term survivors, Mexico, Neuropathy, pain, stress, support, United States

Julian, age 58/ South London, United Kingdom

July 17, 2016 by admin

I’m the typical “helper.” Actually that’s really good therapy, it makes you reflect upon yourself. I was an activist in the ‘70s, in gay liberation, and then I was part of the first UK response to HIV in 1982, 1983, and set up organizations and help lines and things like that. I never had a […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Europe, Male • Tags: ACTIVISM, death/dying, disability, early antiretroviral medications, England, family, finances, gay liberation, gratitude, grief/loss, Healthcare access, helping others, HIV/AIDS community dynamics, pre/post-test counseling, privilege, stigma, support, treatment access, United Kingdom, Work/Career, working in HIV/AIDS community

Charlie, age 58 / Auckland, New Zealand

July 15, 2016 by admin

People were just dying in ’83 and ’84. All my friends were dying around me, and then a very good friend of mine was diagnosed with it in ’84. And he moved home to his place in Taroma. Some people shunned him, but I never did. When I was told that it was HIV, I […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: burial, death/dying, grief/loss, HIV/AIDS myths, isolation, moving home, New Zealand, stigma

Jane, age 57 / Auckland, New Zealand

December 10, 2014 by admin

Sometimes, I allow myself to have a wallow day. But it doesn’t happen much now. It used to happen. I cried a lot in the first years. I find now that it’s very difficult to cry. I seem to have hardened quite a lot. And I guess it’s just about, you know, you see a […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Asia-Pacific, Female • Tags: AZT/early medications, children/parenthood, dating/relationships, denial, disclosure, family, grandchildren, grief/loss, helping others, insecurity, isolation/loneliness, Lipodystrophy, moving home, New Zealand, positive partners, weight/body image, Work/Career

Suzanne, age 59 / Melbourne, Australia

December 1, 2014 by admin

I first learned that I was HIV-positive in a letter from a doctor. I’d been working in a little hospital in rural Africa, but I had to go away somewhere else to find a GP to take my blood, because there was just the risk of too much scrutiny, and confidentiality – I didn’t feel […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Asia-Pacific, Female • Tags: Australia, children/parenthood, China, dating/relationships, disclosure, family, healthcare professional, HIV & the law, HIV/AIDS community dynamics, HIV/AIDS education, Immigration, pre/post-test counseling, support, Zimbabwe

Stephen, age 59 / Kampala, Uganda

December 1, 2014 by admin

When I started working in 1984 as a doctor, I saw so many people whom I now know had AIDS, but we were never trained – it was not there during that time from ’79 up to ’84, when I went through the medical school. So, I worked – I’ve worked with hundreds, thousands. I’ve […]

Categories: Africa, Age 55-59, Male • Tags: Art/creativity, children/parenthood, death/dying, depression, fear, healthcare professional, memory/brain health, Occupational HIV Transmission, privilege, Uganda, working in HIV/AIDS community

Katherine, age 56 / Adelaide, Australia

December 1, 2014 by admin

I always wanted a big family, you know – four to six children. My career was in childcare. I found out that I was positive and pregnant at the same time. My partner came with me, and we found out that he was also positive. And they basically said three things to us: “Don’t tell […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Asia-Pacific, Female • Tags: Australia, children, death/dying, family, grandchildren, grief/loss, guilt, jail/incarceration, joy, married/life partner(s), pre/post-test counseling, stigma, substance use/recovery, support, working in HIV/AIDS community

Doris, age 58 & Randy, age 48 / Canada

November 30, 2014 by admin

Doris: I was caught up in my addictions, and I thought the weight loss was connected to my substance use, until I started seeing other complications with my health. And that’s when I went for an HIV test. While waiting for my HIV test, I made the decision to go back home, because […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Female, North America, Trans / Non-Binary / Two-Spirit • Tags: Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nations, ACTIVISM, anger, Art/creativity, Canada, children/parenthood, death/dying, domestic violence, faith/spirituality, family, grandchildren, HIV/AIDS education, love, moving home, NGOs, sexual violence, stigma, substance use/recovery, support, trauma, weight

Claire, age 55/ San Francisco, CA, USA

November 30, 2014 by admin

I just remember being very naïve, you know, and people would tell me to do something, and I would do it. I didn’t know any better. The good news is is that they told me– this is when AZT was the only treatment. And they put me on AZT and I just took it, because […]

Categories: Age 55-59, Female, North America • Tags: AZT/early medications, gratitude, HIV/AIDS education, HIV/AIDS myths, Illness/Wellness, life experience/age as an asset, privilege, shame, side effects, treatment adherence, United States

The Graying of AIDS

Stories From An Aging Pandemic

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Age 55-59

Proscovia, age 55 / Tororo, Uganda

Kim, age 59/Melbourne, Australia

Jesus, age 56/Mexico & California, USA

Julian, age 58/ South London, United Kingdom

Charlie, age 58 / Auckland, New Zealand

Jane, age 57 / Auckland, New Zealand

Suzanne, age 59 / Melbourne, Australia

Stephen, age 59 / Kampala, Uganda

Katherine, age 56 / Adelaide, Australia

Doris, age 58 & Randy, age 48 / Canada

Claire, age 55/ San Francisco, CA, USA