Personal story: Amahle

"I found out I was HIV-positive in 2011. I had met my partner and I wanted to get on birth control. I went to the doctor, and they asked me if I wanted an HIV test because of my past (I told the doctor I had shared a needle four years prior).

A week later they called me back in to see another doctor. The doctor looked me in the eyes and from that point I knew something was up. He said the result from my HIV test came back positive. I freaked out crying, thinking I'm going to die, my partner is going to break up with me and my family will hate me. I felt like such a failure.

The doctor calmed me down and educated me a little more about it. He told me there were some people upstairs he wanted me to talk to. I took a good 10 minutes to myself in the room after the doctor walked out, I fell to my knees and cried. After, I went upstairs and I met a woman from Pacific Pride Foundation, who told me everything was going to be okay and walked me through everything.

After we talked, I called my partner to come pick me up. I was so scared to tell him, but I had to because it was the only right thing to do at this point. As I told him he just grabbed me and hugged me and said, it's okay I'm not going to leave you. And that just made me feel 100% better.

Since that day, I’ve wanted to beat this disease. My blood work was almost at the point where it was going to turn into AIDS, but we caught it just in time. They started me on three pills and as my levels went down, I went down to only one pill a day.

Fast forward 10 years and I’m still with my partner, and I have a healthy HIV-negative son. Thanks to the help and love I got from my man and his family, and the healthcare providers, I am positive about my disease. It will not beat me.

If you have just found out you’re HIV-positive, I can’t be any clearer: take your medication and do what the doctors says. Have faith in yourself and continue to live your life."