Neil

I was diagnosed only two years ago and due to illness had lost my job and my home within 8 weeks. The whole experience on top off starting treatment was devastating. I had the very strong support of a friend and as a result he has just been awarded a British Red Cross Humanity Award.

The awards were presented at a celebrity bash at the Langham Hilton last year, which resulted in a lot of Media interest. I had to talk openly about my own situation this was with TV and other media.

The whole experience was quite liberating and I would love the opportunity to inspire others to, come out and be confident about there own diagnosis especially to encourage people to question there own misgivings and preconceptions about HIV and those affected.

Being a gay man that also has an 8-year-old daughter I feel that I experience even more negativity from my own community, as they don't understand the difficulty in having a child. You can imagine even in today's world how upsetting it is when your child says she can't go to her friend's party because the parents are worried that she will infect them. My daughter at that time didn't even no I was positive.

These are just some of the issues that should be brought to the attention of the public especially around World AIDS Day and the fact that new infections are still on the increase of people in my age group 25 to 30.