Life with AIDS

By Joshua Gomes, The Clarion
Fall 1998

 

Editor~ Note: The following article appeared earlier this year in The Clarion the University of Denver's newspaper, and is reprinted with the permission of the staff of -that newspaper. Many brothers from throughout our Fraternity met its author, Brother Josh Gomes, this past summer at SFP/Convention in San Antonio.

I became infected with HIV when I was 2 or 3 years of age. I received the virus from blood products that, I needed to treat my hem6philia. Hemophilia is a genetic blood disorder in which there is one of the 12 clotting factors missing in your blood. In my case, I am missing factor eight. This pretty much means that whenever I twist a joint it keeps bleeding into that joint until I have a transfusion of factor eight.

I was first tested for HIV at the age of 10. When I was first told that the test was positive, I was extremely scared, thinking that I was ping to die in the near future. After a couple of months of still being quite healthy, I realized this was foolish and decided to face life with a positive attitude.

I had several illnesses that were more annoying than life-threatening, such as a racking cough that lasted for 2 years and several cases of shingles. When I was a sophomore in high school, I came down with MAI. MAI is similar to tuberculosis except that it is in the cells instead of the lungs and it isn't contagious. MAI is the second highest killer of people with AIDS. At first, the doctors though R was lymphoma since all my lymph nodes were extremely swollen. Just to be sure that it wasn't lymphoma, the oncologist had a lymph node cut out to be biopsied.

I basically missed two years of my life because I was so sick. I could barely walk the 10 feet from my bed to the couch in the living room. I had a permanent IV line put into my arm. I also had a tube put into my stomach to be fed with because I was too sick to eat. Several times my friends would leave crying after visiting me, from seeing how sick I was.

I now take the new drugs, protease inhibitors. I was the first kid in Colorado to be allowed to take these drugs. When I first started taking the drug cocktail, I was pretty close to dead. These drugs brought be back to life, but then I failed on these drugs and lost 35 pounds and almost died again. Then, I was given a new drug cocktail that only worked for a few months before it failed. I was then put on the only drugs left on the market that I hadn't taken. That is what I am still on and so far, these drugs are working very well. Protease inhibitors only work for about 50 percent of the people with AIDS and they don't work indefinitely. More drugs, more research and (or course) more money to pay for these things is needed.

Living with AIDS hasn't been all sickness and pain. I have had the opportunity to meet numerous celebrities including Elton John, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Brooke Shields, and many, many more. I have ridden on a float in the Rose Parade. I also have had the opportunity to be interviewed by many of the local TV stations, which has led to a close friendship with Stephanie Riggs of [Denver's] Channel 4.

At this time, I am healthier than I have been for a long time. To keep me this healthy I have to take 71 pills a day. I still have a permanent IV line that is inserted directly into my heart and a tube that goes into my stomach. I give myself a shot every day in my stomach and have to put drugs through the line in my chest. This is the first time in several years that I have been able to attend regular classes, instead of being home tutored. I also have energy to get out of the house for other activities as well, like hanging out with the brothers of Theta Chi.

I really haven't gotten into just how NOT FUN having AIDS is., There were several times that I was very close to dying that I didn't even touch on, and I didn't come close to describing what it was like when I was very sick for those many years. The point I'm trying to get across is: The disease is not fun BUT IT IS EXTREMELY EASY TO PREVENT. I would also like to point out that you can't tell from looking at someone or even knowing someone whether or not they have AIDS.

Don't take chances with your own life... THINK!

Love and Respect Your Brothers,

Josh Gomes (Gamma Lambda/Denver '01)

 

(...Go back)