Dear Reader,
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
First of all, I want to thank you for your article, “First Person: The Killer Inside Me” [January 27], because it reminds me of how self-centered, afraid and hopeless I once was. I have had HIV for nine years in April. I was diagnosed in a prison in Georgia. When I was informed of the diagnosis, I was placed in a segregated cell house for HIV+ inmates. The prison officials then came to my cell in what looked like space suits and took my belongings and bedding out to be burned. I was also told that I would die of AIDS in the next five years. Within two weeks, I was released because I was sentenced on a nonviolent offense and was immediately put up for parole because the State didn’t want to spend the money. Luckily, I had been able to keep a place to live upon release and was visited by a lady who worked with the Department of Public Health. She informed me of some of the programs open for my participation. She also helped with finding support groups where I met other people who were diagnosed with AIDS. This is when I decided that I would not lie down and give up on life.
Positively positive,
