The Graying of AIDS

Stories From An Aging Pandemic

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Ron, age 50 / District of Columbia, USA

December 2, 2017 by admin

I was a closeted gay man working in international development. I had been a Peace Corps volunteer and was going to school for public health, but taking short contracts to pay for school. I was living and working in Mali, in West Africa. This was the year 1994. I needed to have […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Male, North America • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, clinical trials, co-morbidities, death/dying, employment/retirement, faith/spirituality, family, finances, gratitude, grief/loss, Healthcare access, intergenerational, Kaposi sarcoma, long-range thinking, long-term survivors, Mali, meditation, NGOs, opportunistic infections, positive outlook, pre/post-test counseling, privilege, stigma, support, treatment access, United States, working in HIV/AIDS community

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Susan, age 54 / New York, USA

June 19, 2017 by admin

I guess I don’t even think about it too much anymore. In the first few years? Like, almost 24/7, it was something that was on my mind: am I gonna be around for my kids? I didn’t even think about grandkids at that time. And I always worried that my daughter would […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Female, North America • Tags: advocacy, anger, cancer, caregiving, CD4 count, children/parenthood, death/dying, disclosure, employment/retirement, family, grandchildren, helping others, HIV/AIDS education, intergenerational, isolation, life experience/age as an asset, married/life partner(s), mother-to-child transmission, nutrition, positive outlook, stress, stroke, support, United States, Women & Girls, working in HIV/AIDS community

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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

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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

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Bob, age 69 / Warkworth, Canada

December 2, 2016 by admin

HIV is the kind of thing you can’t really understand until you experience it, because remember, in those days we’re talking about, it was a death sentence. And since then, we’ve had to go through this period where, after treatment, suddenly it wasn’t a death sentence. That’s a – I use the expression “mind-fuck,” for […]

Categories: Age 65-69, Male, North America • Tags: ACTIVISM, ageism, Canada, clinical trials, death/dying, dignity/respect, grief/loss, isolation, life experience/age as an asset, long-term survivors, memory/brain health, rural health, stress, treatment access

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Ron, age 66/ District of Columbia, USA

December 1, 2016 by admin

I was suicidal when I was thirteen. Because I was gay, or “sissy” as they used to say in those days. I was actually planning how I was gonna do it, and I heard this voice in my head that said, “Don’t do it. Wait ‘til you get older. Things will be different.” I was […]

Categories: Age 65-69, Male, North America • Tags: alternative medicine, AZT/pre-"cocktail" medications, cancer, faith/spirituality, meditation, nutrition, positive outlook, suicide, support groups, thrombosis/blood clot, treatment access, United States

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Olive, age 53/ Saint Catherine, Jamaica

December 1, 2016 by admin

I actually don’t do “My Story.” I don’t do testimonies. People like other people’s business, so it’s not what I do. It’s about the issues. The challenges of really living and coping, and serving, and supporting, and peer needs and so on. Yeah. It’s fine what we are going to be doing, in that it […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Female, North America • Tags: celibacy, dating, disclosure, doctor/patient relationship, employment/retirement, faith/spirituality, family, helping others, HIV/AIDS community dynamics, HIV/AIDS education, intergenerational, Jamaica, life experience/age as an asset, pre/post-test counseling, sex/sexuality, stigma, support groups, treatment a, working in HIV/AIDS community

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Dave, 68 / California, USA

December 2, 2014 by admin

We got kicked out of our church. We got kicked out of our small group. The pastor was in visiting me when the doctor told me, and he told his wife. And so we ended up having to leave the church, and then about a year later we walked into our small group that we […]

Categories: Age 65-69, Male, North America • Tags: faith/spirituality, helping others, married/life partner, stigma, support, support group, United States

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Deloris, age 54 / New Jersey, “Jamerican” (USA & Jamaica)

December 1, 2014 by admin

I am very fortunate. I’ve been able to educate myself to the graduate level. I hold down a really decent job. I make, in nonprofit, nonprofit-decent money. (Laughs) That’s a disclaimer. I think to live with HIV you have to have a lot of support. And if they’re not coming from your family? You have […]

Categories: Age 50-54, Female, North America • Tags: Art/creativity, children/parenthood, companionship, dating/relationships, faith/spirituality, fear, grandchildren, HIV/AIDS education, isolation/loneliness, Jamaica, keeping busy, support, trauma, United States, Work/Career, working in HIV/AIDS community

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Art, age 62 / Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, Anishnawbe / Toronto, Canada

December 1, 2014 by admin

I’m 62 now, but I came out when I was 26. So it was quite late. And back then, being out was not– it was sometimes, in the aboriginal communities, you might bring shame to the family, to the community, by announcing. But when I came out, then it was no going back. And I […]

Categories: Age 60-64, North America, Trans / Non-Binary / Two-Spirit • Tags: Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nations, advocacy, Canada, discrimination, family, support

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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

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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

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