In April of 2007 I found out I was in the early stages of HIV. I was 20 years old. At first the only thing I could think of was ‘how could I let this happen to me?’ and the second was ‘how long had I been infected without knowing, without any of my partners knowing?’. I tried to get tested every six months but even that only goes so far.

For five years I've been fighting and winning. There are days when I would rather throw myself over a cliff than leave my bed. Without the help of my friends and family, and the help of the doctors and nurses at the clinic I probably wouldn’t leave my bed the whole time. I have continued working whether I’m dry heaving or nauseated beyond compare.

What I'm learning, and have learned, is that it is fightable, it is worth getting out of bed and it is worth the pain to fight to be able to see a day when possibly millions can be free from this epidemic. We just have to keep fighting.

David