Living Well with HIV: Marnina

"I want you to know that HIV is something that you can live with and you don't have to feel ashamed or afraid. "

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TRANSCRIPT:
It's actually a little emotional being here.

I did not immediately want to come out my HIV diagnosis, just cause all the stigma and shame that was wrapped around it. So I kind of kept it to myself for a long time.

HIV is contracted sexually and we still live in an era where people think that a sexually transmitted disease is something like the worst taboo ever.

I want people to know that is a chronic manageable illness.

I have friends, I have a partner, I have a son, I go to school, I work, and I take a pill to manage my HIV.

Me reaching an undetectable viral load kind of took the weight of living with HIV kind of off of me.

Now I sit my medications right on the edge of my vanity, right next to my toothbrush to make sure that I take it in the morning.

I want you to know that HIV is something that you can live with and you don't have to feel ashamed or afraid.