"I have a doctor
I completely trust...I never feel like he's ...belittling my choices.
I always feel like I am the one who gets to decide and you know
it's empowering. My first choice whenever any adverse health problems
come up is still to use alternative medicine and therapies."
- Kathy
"My family has really been
supportive of me...and really by my side through all of this. When
I first found out I was positive, I was very very scared...I didn't
know what to do or talk to anybody because I didn't know what people
was going to say." - Joseph
"I keep coming back because
the people here helped me and they keep me healthy. I'm still healthier
than the others I know who have AIDS...UC helps me stay that way...I
just like to think of myself as a survivor. I was treated for hepatitis
C...things have improved and now it's gone." - Arthur
"Being an African American
and being HIV positive, I think the first thing I noted - because
I'm from a Christian background - was the reaction from the Church,
and not having that support. There was really no place that I felt
comfortable with or anyone I could talk to about sharing these experiences
until I came to the Men of Color Program." - Bill
"I feel really lucky to be
as healthy as I am at my age and I'm happy that some of my friends
have survived to live out their lives with me. I just wish a lot of
the others were there too...There's a lot of grief still that we carry
deep inside and a lot of loss. What if these people had been able
to survive a little bit longer until some better care came along."
- Ken
"I knew that I was HIV+ and
that (kidney failure) was a double whammy...I already had a lot going
against me like my immune system. There are some people waiting for
kidneys much longer than me. I was one of the lucky ones."
- Michelle
Photos by Molly DeCoudreaux and Lynnly Labovitz
400 Parnassus Avenue 4th Floor, Room A-429
San Francisco, CA 94143-0378
