Asia-Pacific | The Graying of AIDS

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

Loon, age 50, / Manipur, India

December 2, 2016 by admin

From 1983 to 1997, I am fully on heroin in between lots of rehab and lots of jail and lots of anything. From 1997 to about five, six, seven years, I’m totally on abstinence. After that, I was thinking to myself, total abstinence is like sitting all the time – like this… Sometimes I want […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: disclosure, India, jail/incarceration, stigma, substance use/recovery

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

Gerome, age 51 / Abbotsford, Australia

December 15, 2014 by admin

I think that my story is personal, it’s unique, and it is not tragic. And, I think it’s something that is probably a little bit different from other people’s stories, because I took it more as a relief that I don’t have to fear HIV anymore. I don’t have to – there was no fear […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: Australia, celibacy, dating/relationships, disclosure, faith/spirituality, family, fear of transmission, France, Healthcare access, homophobia, love, Philippines, pre/post-test counseling, Recent diagnosis, relief, serodiscordant couple, sex/sexuality, stigma, Tanzania, treatment access, Viral load/”undetectable”

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

Michael, age 62 / Auckland, New Zealand

December 2, 2014 by admin

I was diagnosed in September 2010. I’ve only had it 4 years. It couldn’t have been much earlier than that. Because I was in a relationship, and then after that relationship finished I got promiscuous and thought to see if I still had it at my age. And yeah, then started experimenting again. I’m a […]

Categories: Age 60-64, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: children/parenthood, disclosure, family, grandchildren, HIV, HIV/AIDS education, New Zealand, Recent diagnosis, sex/sexuality, stigma, support

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

Rodney, age 67 / Melbourne, Australia

December 1, 2014 by admin

I didn’t come out. I didn’t tell anyone. No one knew for 10 years. And I think that’s what helped me. You see, on that day I was told – because this was what you were told in those days – I was told that I could possibly be dead in 5 years, but if […]

Categories: Age 65-69, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: Australia, death/dying, disclosure, fear of transmission, grief/loss, pre/post-test counseling, support, treatment adherence

Meng Lin, age 53 / Beijing, China

December 1, 2014 by admin

I told my family, and I do not have a full knowledge about HIV/AIDS, but I tell them I’m HIV-positive. The same day I’ve been kicked out by the family. And all my friends get away from me. But I am so lucky that I meet a very good doctor. She’s just like my mother. […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: ACTIVISM, China, death/dying, depression, doctor/patient relationship, family, stigma, support, treatment access

Ella, age “nearly 50” / Selangor, Malaysia

December 1, 2014 by admin

In year 2003 I already need to be on medications, but at that particle of time, that we need to pay about 1,000 ringget Malaysia, and my salary is less than 1,000. So… I, I stop seeing the doctor because the doctor says, “You need to be on medication.” I rather, you know, feed my […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Asia-Pacific, Female • Tags: children/parenthood, cost of treatment, death/dying, faith/spirituality, grandchildren, liver health, Malaysia, support, treatment access, Tuberculosis

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

David, age 61 / Melbourne, Australia

December 1, 2014 by admin

I’ve really had a lot of AIDS-defining illnesses in the ‘90s, some of which I’ve lived with since. I’ve developed diabetes, and, as a consequence, probably accelerated by my use of the drug Tenofovir, I’ve developed some renal disease. It’s okay, but it needs to be watched. I had excessive HIV wasting in the ‘80s, […]

Categories: Age 60-64, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: Australia, AZT/early medications, co-morbidities, diabetes, exercise/fitness, frailty, Illness/Wellness, inflammation, mobility issues, pain, renal disease, support, wasting, weight