The Graying of AIDS

Stories From An Aging Pandemic

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Phumzile, age 52 / Johannesburg, South Africa

June 5, 2018 by admin

We need to remember that HIV is a justice issue. If we don’t deal with the structural injustices, people will continue being vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. The religious community has a responsibility to spread positive messages and if we still have negative messages within our religious contexts, I believe that those messages […]

Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Female • Tags: advocacy, anger, arthritis, body image, caregiving, Caring for Older Adults, children/parenthood, dating, death/dying, depression, diabetes, dignity/respect, doctor/patient relationship, employment/retirement, exercise/fitness, faith/spirituality, family, finances, helping others, HIV/AIDS education, human rights, intergenerational, justice, life experience/age as an asset, married/life partner(s), menopause, positive outlook, pre/post-test counseling, sex/sexuality, side effects, South Africa, stigma, stress, support, treatement access, weight, Women & Girls

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Sebastian, age 65 / Harare, Zimbabwe

December 3, 2017 by admin

I remember it was about 15 years ago. I was constantly sick and I didn’t know what was wrong with me. When I was hospitalized for the last time, when I was very, very ill, it was a teaching hospital. A group of students surrounded me and they were asked by a senior doctor […]

Categories: Africa, Age 65-69, Male • Tags: advocacy, ageism, burial, caregiving, Caring for Older Adults, children/parenthood, cost of treatment, death/dying, dignity/respect, disclosure, doctor/patient relationship, family, grandchildren, helping others, HIV/AIDS education, HIV/AIDS myths, intergenerational, life experience/age as an asset, married/life partner(s), moving home, pre/post-test counseling, rural health, stigma, stress, support groups, treatment access, Zimbabwe

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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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Rick, age 60 / Pretoria, South Africa

June 8, 2017 by admin

Originally I was from Scotland. I’ve been in South Africa now for 36 years. I think I befriended my little virus in South Africa – that’s 30 years ago. AIDS in South Africa in that time was very different to what it is now. It was bad. I worked with an organization who […]

Categories: Africa, Age 60-64, Europe, Male • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, cancer, caregiving, coping, dating, death/dying, disclosure, employment/retirement, family, grief/loss, married/life partner, opportunistic infections, PCP, positive outlook, Scotland, South Africa, support groups, thrombosis/blood clot, weight, working in HIV/AIDS community

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Hope, age 62/Francistown, Botswana

June 6, 2017 by admin

I was working with a family, and somebody had some kind of blisters that week. I was in Australia then. I was away from home, I was away from a lot of people. I was alone. Even though I was in denial, I knew what this was, because I had been unwell. I don’t remember […]

Categories: Africa, Age 60-64, Female • Tags: ageism, Art/creativity, Australia, body image, Botswana, caregiving, Caring for Older Adults, class, dating, death/dying, disclosure, doctor/patient relationship, employment/retirement, family, grief/loss, healthcare professional, helping others, HIV & the law, HIV/AIDS education, Immigration, isolation, married/life partner, Neuropathy, pain, polypharmacy, sex/sexuality, shingles, side effects, stigma, stress, support, treatment access, United States, weight

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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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Nomampondo, age 52 / Johannesburg, South Africa

December 2, 2016 by admin

At least be there for the mothers! I always tell my daughter that she saw me struggling in front of her, bringing them up as a single parent. She has to be there for their mother– for her kids as well. We were the faces of AIDS in the beginning, during those difficult […]

Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Female • Tags: advocacy, ageism, caregiving, confidentiality, death/dying, disclosure, doctor/patient relationship, employment discrimination, family, guilt, memory/brain health, Neuropathy, night sweats, polypharmacy, shingles, side effects, South Africa, stigma, TB, treatment access

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JP, age 52 /Namibia and Vattholma, Sweden

December 1, 2016 by admin

My partner at the time was having problems with his eyes. I had been speaking to him for some time about getting tested together. I said to him, “It’s time, now. I’m not suggesting any more – it’s time.” When he tested positive, I said, “Forget the test. Just do my CD4 count.” But they […]

Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Europe, Male • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, CD4 count, clinical trials, death/dying, faith/spirituality, kidney health, liver health, married/life partner(s), medication, Namibia, personalized treatment, side effects, Sweden, treatment access, Viral load/”undetectable”, working in HIV/AIDS community

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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

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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

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