'My boyfriend is HIV-negative. His name is Ton, too. Next year it will be our three-year anniversary and we are thinking about getting married.
'When I first discovered I was HIV-positive I thought I would never have anyone to love again. I met Ton through work, but I didn't tell him about my status at first because I presumed I would stay single forever.
'But then we were at a camp where we had an activity about disclosure. After I came forward, Ton was the first person to walk over and hug me. He said to me, If in this world no one will love you, I will be the one to love you. We will live together for the rest of our lives.'
To mark World Aids Day tomorrow, the humanitarian aid organisation Medecines Sans Frontiers has published moving biographies of 25 patients suffering from HIV, drawn from seven countries.
'When I first discovered I was HIV-positive I thought I would never have anyone to love again. I met Ton through work, but I didn't tell him about my status at first because I presumed I would stay single forever.
'But then we were at a camp where we had an activity about disclosure. After I came forward, Ton was the first person to walk over and hug me. He said to me, If in this world no one will love you, I will be the one to love you. We will live together for the rest of our lives.'
To mark World Aids Day tomorrow, the humanitarian aid organisation Medecines Sans Frontiers has published moving biographies of 25 patients suffering from HIV, drawn from seven countries.
The pictorial biographies have been published in the hope that the world will come to understand better the lives of people with HIV. As part of the project, 'My Life with HIV,' four case studies from Thailand were chosen, among them the uplifting story of a young man, called Ton, who has lived with the disease for eight years.
For the first three years, Ton, 32, was afraid to acknowledge he might have the disease. He tried hiding from society - he quit his job, rarely left home, and at first was reluctant even to see a doctor.
Eventually he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, an opportunistic infection. At that time he told his mother that he thought he might have HIV as well.
In fact, his condition was to get much worse: he also developed herpes, and at one point the HIV virus spread to his eyes, threatening to blind him. He needed weekly injections in his eyeball before his eyesight improved. Medical checks confirmed his immunity was perilously low, and that HIV was the cause.
Once the truth was out in the open, his family could begin to deal with it. To his surprise, Ton found he and his parents drew closer. His father went to seminars and read books about the disease, and took part in efforts to improve access to anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/Aids patients. Ton says his father's courage gave himself the strength to carry on, and eventually to face society again.
In fighting the disease, Ton discovered in himself a desire to help others. Today he no longer hides away at home, but works as a campaigner and coordinator for MSF in jails and hospitals, trying to improve the treatment environment for inmates and patients.
Men who catch the disease from having unprotected sex with other men, such as Ton himself, are particularly susceptible to discrimination. People in charge think they brought it on themselves.
Today, far from being an invalid or pariah, Ton is a fully-functioning member of society. He has a job, a loving family, and a boyfriend. The last was an unexpected bonus - Ton says he never expected to love again.
While he might be able to persuade society to tolerate HIV/Aids patients, he did not think anyone would actually want to love him, for fear they might get the disease themselves. Here is his story, taken from an interview with the Manager newspaper, about how he met his boyfriend:
'One day I went to a camp run by the Rainbow Sky Association. They asked me along as a junior who was involved in this line of work. They ran a seminar where on the last day someone was to come forward and reveal that he had HIV. The organisers wanted to see the reaction among the participants. I was the one who was chosen.
'Everyone sat in a circle with their eyes closed. I went into the middle of the circle and sat there, and then they opened their eyes. No one gave me a look of disgust, because no one thought it could have been me. They just sat there stunned.
'[Ton] was the only one who left the circle to approach me. He said he didn't know how the others felt - but he was one person there who loved me, and would love me forever.
'After that, others left the circle. They walked up to me, hugged me, told me they loved me.'
That day, a young man called Ton (pictured above, right) took a giant hammer and broke the shell in which Ton the HIV sufferer had encased his heart. As someone who did not have the disease himself, that took courage.
Before, Ton regarded condom use as a sign that two people did not trust each other, and was reluctant to wear one. Today, as he shares his life with a boyfriend who does not have the disease, he regards wearing a condom as a sign, in fact, that two people do love each other, and are concerned about each other's welfare.
You can read his story in English at the MSF website here (link harvested - it died).
For the first three years, Ton, 32, was afraid to acknowledge he might have the disease. He tried hiding from society - he quit his job, rarely left home, and at first was reluctant even to see a doctor.
Eventually he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, an opportunistic infection. At that time he told his mother that he thought he might have HIV as well.
In fact, his condition was to get much worse: he also developed herpes, and at one point the HIV virus spread to his eyes, threatening to blind him. He needed weekly injections in his eyeball before his eyesight improved. Medical checks confirmed his immunity was perilously low, and that HIV was the cause.
Once the truth was out in the open, his family could begin to deal with it. To his surprise, Ton found he and his parents drew closer. His father went to seminars and read books about the disease, and took part in efforts to improve access to anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/Aids patients. Ton says his father's courage gave himself the strength to carry on, and eventually to face society again.
In fighting the disease, Ton discovered in himself a desire to help others. Today he no longer hides away at home, but works as a campaigner and coordinator for MSF in jails and hospitals, trying to improve the treatment environment for inmates and patients.
Men who catch the disease from having unprotected sex with other men, such as Ton himself, are particularly susceptible to discrimination. People in charge think they brought it on themselves.
Today, far from being an invalid or pariah, Ton is a fully-functioning member of society. He has a job, a loving family, and a boyfriend. The last was an unexpected bonus - Ton says he never expected to love again.
While he might be able to persuade society to tolerate HIV/Aids patients, he did not think anyone would actually want to love him, for fear they might get the disease themselves. Here is his story, taken from an interview with the Manager newspaper, about how he met his boyfriend:
'One day I went to a camp run by the Rainbow Sky Association. They asked me along as a junior who was involved in this line of work. They ran a seminar where on the last day someone was to come forward and reveal that he had HIV. The organisers wanted to see the reaction among the participants. I was the one who was chosen.
'Everyone sat in a circle with their eyes closed. I went into the middle of the circle and sat there, and then they opened their eyes. No one gave me a look of disgust, because no one thought it could have been me. They just sat there stunned.
'[Ton] was the only one who left the circle to approach me. He said he didn't know how the others felt - but he was one person there who loved me, and would love me forever.
'After that, others left the circle. They walked up to me, hugged me, told me they loved me.'
That day, a young man called Ton (pictured above, right) took a giant hammer and broke the shell in which Ton the HIV sufferer had encased his heart. As someone who did not have the disease himself, that took courage.
Before, Ton regarded condom use as a sign that two people did not trust each other, and was reluctant to wear one. Today, as he shares his life with a boyfriend who does not have the disease, he regards wearing a condom as a sign, in fact, that two people do love each other, and are concerned about each other's welfare.
You can read his story in English at the MSF website here (link harvested - it died).
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