On January 18, 2015, I completed my first full marathon in Phoenix. It wasn’t easy because statistics told me Natives have the shortest life span after HIV infection.
Back in 2002 when I was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis C in Phoenix, my health was at a border between HIV and AIDS. I was immediately taken to a Native AIDS support group. To this day, I am the only one from that group who is still alive.
Born and raised on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona, I never thought a tribal would get AIDS. Education was extremely limited about the virus. Rumors were rampant when the virus was discovered, and I remember looking for red or purple spots on my body thinking it was Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a disease AIDS patients got in the early days.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/01/23/native-aids-survivor-activist-runs-marathon-we-can-run-marathons-too-158837
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