Mon Jul 16 2001
location=: Florida

Hey Bruce-
First off, I must say, you sound like an incredibly brave person. I admire your honesty and your willingness to live. I am a 21 yr old female. About 1 1/2 months ago, I was involved in some heavy petting with a male. He entered me for about 1 second unprotected, and then we put on a condom. We did have oral sex, but like you, I did not swallow. From this one second of him entering me, I contracted Tricho-something or other, a bacterial disease. I couldn't f*cking beleive it, I thought I was safe. My doctor has recomened an HIV test in 6 months, and damnit, I am scared shitless.
If I do turn up positive, I beleive my case would be simular to yours in that there was no massive amount of fluid transfer involved. I will let you know my results. Thanks so much for making an effort to combat this disease. Should I turn up positive, I hope after my emotional turnmoil settles, I can be like you.

Jul 25 2001

This is an excellent site, with personal as well as informative information. It is a good source of referrals to agencies for positive people as well as for other agencies.
The great aspect of the site is that it acts as an educational tool for people who are familiar with HIV/ AIDS and for those that have little knowledge about the epidemic. CONGRATULATIONS

To the sad woman who will read this letter: I know how alone you feel. The fears that creep into your mind all day long and rob your joy. Don't you know that God made you special? He sees you whole. No disease, no pain, no fear. Recently, I thought that I might be Hiv positive. It turns out that I'm very sick with auto-immune disease. I have a relative that has AIDs, and I see what he goes through. The torment and the sorrow. I wanted you to know that I care so much about you. You have somebody thinking of you right now, sending you all of her prayers to keep you through the nights and days when you feel all hope is gone. I have two little boys whom I love with all of my heart. I went through a long period of time when I thought that I was leaving this earth, and all I could do is think about what would happen to my sons. My relative with AIDS tells me these horror stories of how the doctors treat him. Very inhumanely, and always with an abrasive, cold, morbid tone. I know you are a human being who deserves to be given respect and loving care. God loves you and wants you to know that you are never alone, no matter how barren you may feel. He is only a prayer away. I always tell my relative who is sick, that our bodies are only temporal. Whether it is for 1 day or 100 years. It is only a shell in which our hearts and souls live for a short time. The afterlife is the true life which awaits us all on the other side. I have these very vivid dreams and visions of this place called "the heavenly realm". I just wanted you to know that I care. I believe in your healing and in future glory in the afterlife for us all. If you would ever like a friend to talk to or spend time with, I will be there. I'm not afraid anymore. I know that it will all work out and all of this is just part of your trial down here on earth . My heart goes out to you! God Bless your heart! Love, your friend Pietra

Thu Aug 2 2001
location=: WA

Hi Recently, a friend of mine went on a holiday. On one of his tour, he stepped on what he thinks may be a needle. On his return to the hotel, he found blood on his sock and a mark on his toe. The next day, he came down with the flu. I had assumed that he may be have caught the virus from a lady he sat next to on the plane as she got the flu. But now, he thinks that he definitely may have contracted some serious disease such as HIV. He had not taken the test yet but had virtually want to give up on life. I am at a loss because I don't know how I can help. Could you please tell me what are the chances of contracting HIV or similar if you have needle injury? I really need some advise so that I can at least give my friend this support. Thanks.

Thank you for visiting the site, I understand that you are concerned for your friends state at the moment, it doesn't mean all bad news and l think that you are right in finding out more and perhaps you can then give your friend support to make the right decisions. Let me point out from the start that l am not a professional or expert so l will try and point you in the right direction.
I know that from doing this web site for over two years that l have indeed heard cases/stories of people becoming HIV+ from standing on a needle but the chances are small and l think you need to have hope in this fact.
Also it's so easy to get the flu when on a trip, travelling on planes and busses with lot's of people and aircon. As the paragraph below notes, flu like symptoms would likely happen a few weeks after and l doubt that your friends flu was anything but the flu.

The AVERT Web site notes:
"The only way to know for sure whether you are infected with HIV is to have an HIV antibody test. The symptoms of initial HIV infection are not very specific. If a person is infected, a few weeks after infection some people experience a flu-like illness. Only a fifth of people experience symptoms which are serious enough to require a doctor's attention. Several years after infection a person may experience symptoms of particular illnesses and cancers. These are the result of the infected person's immune system being damaged by HIV to the point where it is no longer able to fight off these opportunistic infections. In each case, HIV infection is difficult to diagnose with out having taken an HIV antibody test first."

If your friend is getting so much grief from the possibility then the only answer is to get tested as mentioned above.
I really advise you to call AIDS line in your state or WA AIDS Council to ask for all the current information on needle sticks.

AIDS Council -is staffed by counsellors who are trained and experienced in HIV/AIDS issues and general sexuality issues. Free and available for people who are infected or affected by HIV or who are experiencing relationship difficulties. The following services can be accessed on ph: (08) 9429 9900
You may also wish to call: THE NSW NEEDLESTICK INJURY HOTLINE NUMBER IS 1800 804 823

It's a good thing to gather information and find out the facts as your friend may not be seeing things to clearly at the moment.
I wish you and your friend all the best,
Regards,
Carolena Helderman
project manager HIV/AIDS Positive Stories
http://www.hivaids.webcentral.com.au

Dear Carolena
Thank you so much for your email and your suggestion on where to get more info/help. It does give me so relieve to know that the chances are small. I will pass this on to my friend. Once again, many thanks for your time.

Mon Aug 6 2001
location=: LOS ANGELES

: hi, i was diognosed with aids when i was 10. I was foolish enough to have a fight with my mother the day before and i ran away. I slept in the park that night, where i met nathan hopskin, a 16 year old. he wanted to have sex with me, so i let him. what i didn't know was that he was hiv positive. i went hokme the next day and i was feeling ill. i told my mother about nathan and what happened that night. she was mad at me. she took me to the doctors and the blood tests came back. i was hiv positive. My life has just suddenly changed.

A lot of people have this deadly desease..others accepted this as an unending challenge to fight for. The reason of this message is to let the wider community works on this problem especially on those unfortunate people living on the third world.. As i have seen this site I was so happy to know that you guys have strong determination and willing to keep on the fight in order to find a cure and solution on this particular plaque. I just hope that those in the third world will have the same ability as you are.. I know that it might take us a decade to solve this..But I am with you with my prayers and dream to help in simple way I can. I am working in the middleeast for the past 10 yrs. now.. I just hope i can start a society which can help you in keeping up this fight..because its not only your fight but the fight of every human race...
Jay Walter Perez
State of Bahrain

I have a son with hiv. I love him very much and would like to move near him ,he loves in Q/ land , but my husband is 68 and is not a well man he has a problem walking and does not get aroun much .I went over to see my son last Christmas and he went on about me moving over there , he has been at me ever since ,I know how sick he is but he is sort of asking me to choose between my husband and him ,and my stomack turns every time I start to think about it ,I have a son and his family in WA , he will not tell the rest of the family he is hiv.

Hello ,
This is a very hard situation for you, although l do not have children l certainly have been through a situation where a close friend disclosed that they were HIV+ and yet did not tell anyone else about it for over a year. It felt like a burden to carry, concerned for him and not be able to talk about how l felt to people.
For you, it's a greater thing to deal with. Has your son considered moving to WA where he could get your support. I personally think that he is asking a lot of you considering your own circumstances. It's not unusual for someone not to have told their whole family, sometimes people just take it step by step and gradually tell people, which was the case of my friend.
I guess that my only question is again, has your son considered moving to you. I'm also worried what a toll this is taking on you, have you considered speaking to people who have been through these experiences and can give you some support. Can l suggest that if you feel that it would help to call the WA AIDS Council, l will give you their details.

Western Australian AIDS Council -is staffed by counsellors who are trained and experienced in HIV/AIDS issues and general sexuality issues. Free and available for people who are infected or affected by HIV or who are experiencing relationship difficulties.
The following services can be accessed on ph: (08) 9429 9900 Positive Support - HIV/AIDS and significant others. Support, information and self help group meetings ph: (08) 9228 4488 I know that l don't have the answers but l hope that this is of some help to you and l'm happy to listen.
Regards,
Carolena Helderman
project manager
HIV/AIDS Positive Stories