Hi! My name is Kerry. I am 20 years old and I am infected with H.I.V. I got the disease earlier in life when I was a teen trying to be so popular. I got H.I.V. by having sexual intercourse at the age of fourteen. Right now I am about to die from H.I.V. Before this, at the age of nineteen, I traveled to places to talk to teens about H.I.V. and how they could get the disease. Now people finally know that they can't get H.I.V. by just shaking my hand or hugging me. But earlier in life they were more afraid of me and afraid to come near me.

When I was fifteen the doctor told me that I was infected with H.I.V. and that there was no cure for it. He had to stick a big needle into my bone and get a biopsy of my bone marrow. We figured that I got the virus when I was fourteen. That was when I had sex with this one guy because I wanted to be so popular. He was the one who infected me and was the cause.

When I was sixteen years old I was feeling very depressed because I knew that I was infected with H.I.V. and that nobody wanted me around them. Everyone was afraid if they even came near me they might get the virus.

Then when I was seventeen I went to an H.I.V. conference at a nearby city, and it was a lot of fun talking to other teens who also were infected. I'd just graduated with my high school diploma and that made me feel even better. And to top it off, during my regular visit with my doctor he told me that I was doing fine. I was feeling on top of the world.

When I was eighteen I visited my old high school and talked to the students about H.I.V. and how it's spread. After I told them about my life they asked me questions about how I was feeling and how I got it. I also visited other schools and public places to talk to teens and adults as much as I could.

I still try to do this even though I now have AIDS and am much weaker. I also have to go to the doctor much more often now to have him check how my body is doing.

By: Jon Boots