At school I knew nothing about HIV and AIDS, didn't know anyone with HIV and it was always something that impacted 'other' people and not youth. Sex education was biological, about pregnancy and put on a condom.

At 16 I started my first gay relationship, fell in love and after a few months I was left devastated as I realised he was sleeping with other men. I felt cheated and I met another guy in London who made me feel good about myself.

We had casual sex and I never thought about protection because he was older, more experienced, knew what he was doing and if he had something wrong with himself he wouldn't want to hurt me.

During the summer vacation I started to become sick with what they thought was glandular fever. I lost weight, and was the sickest I had ever been. The doctors wanted to screen me for everything. They thought I had cancer and did a bi-op on a gland in my neck. They asked me about my sex life, which I felt was too personal.

They told me I was at little risk and that an HIV test was just a way of taking HIV off the list of possible illnesses that I might have. I never had any counselling, information or preparation for the test. I never even knew anyone with the virus. Six days later the doctor phoned me at home and said they needed me to come in for more blood tests. This was all normal to me so I thought nothing of it.

I tested HIV positive at 17 with my mum sitting next to me. I felt alone, isolated, scared and believed I was going to die. I didn't cope for months and used alcohol to escape. My mum said, "I don't expect my son to die before me." It was then that I realised I had destroyed everything.

At first I didn't want anyone to know I had HIV because I felt too ashamed and was worried what he or she might think. I kept it to myself besides a few family members. Then I realised how important it was that I stood strong and be honest with other people as well as myself.

I went to other groups in London for HIV positive people but there was nothing for young people where I could get peer support. Within the first year I got sick very quickly. I almost didn't complete my A levels. I went to San Francisco to study for a charity that specialised in HIV called the UCSF AIDS Health Project.

I started to make sense of what happened to me and wanted other younger people to not find themselves in the same position as myself. I started going into schools and telling my story and put a youth face to the virus.

I set up a charity called Health Initiatives for Youth (HIFY-UK) to support, train and educate youth and change society views towards HIV, STI's, young people and safer sex
When I came back from the States I met the man I got HIV from and I closed that chapter in my life. It was very painful but I needed to confront him and take responsibility.

HIV still impacts my life every day and it never goes away- you just find other ways of dealing with it. Relationships are hard without HIV and even harder with it. I also don't know how long these medicines will work for and how much longer I will continue to be healthy. My outlook has changed on life. I make the most of what I have got and try to help other young people from saying "I never knew about it (HIV)." Which is what I used to say.

HIV is still here and I am shocked by how many kids know very little about it. I can't stop them from getting it but I can try to make them aware. As much as I don't want them to go through what I went through I can't stop it. There is still so much prejudice and misconceptions about HIV, which is why more heterosexuals are being infected now than gay men in the UK.

Young people are still thinking that it won't happen to me, which is what I used to think. That is why it is important that I tell them that it can.