Chad: Hi, I’m Chad, I live in San Francisco. San Francisco brings together all the things that I love about urban life. I feel like everyone marches to the beat of their own drum here, and it’s perfectly accepted, it’s actually celebrated and embraced.
It was October 5, 2007 when my doctor and I met to discuss my HIV test that I had taken a week before. And she told me I was HIV positive. The details after that get a little blurry because the room sort of spun, and you know, it was a shock. I was shocked.
Because of my regular routine testing schedule, I know exactly when I became HIV positive, and I know that we caught the virus right away, which allowed me to take action immediately.
From that point forward, it was really about just taking control of the situation, going on meds, and taking care of myself. We need to talk as a community about our status.
Keep people that are negative negative, and keep people that are positive healthy. Knowing my status allows me to take control of the situation rather than it controlling me.
I’m Chad, and I got tested. Learn more at greaterthan.org.
