Living with HIV: six very different stories
The Guardian, 22 March 2015 - Since HIV was first diagnosed in Britain 30 years ago, the reality of having the virus has changed dramatically. From a survivor of the 1980s epidemic to a recently diagnosed mother in her 60s, Eleanor Tucker hears six life-affirming stories
Jonathan Blake, 65
Lives in London with his partner. He was one of the first people to be diagnosed with HIV in this country
The only thing that stopped me committing suicide was that I couldn’t bear the thought of someone clearing up my mess. It was 1982, and I’d been to my GP with the kind of swollen glands that hurt when you shook hands with someone. Tests showed I had HTLV3, the original name for HIV. At the time there was all this news filtering in from the US about a mystery illness – that it was terrifying, and terminal. If I can’t kill myself, I thought, I’d better just get on with it.