Hello. My name is Kerry and this is the story of my life. It all started at the age of 15. There were a lot of things going on at that time. My parents were pressuring me to do good in school. And I wanted this guy to like me, so we went out a few times. Then I did something I would regret the rest of my life. I did a little bump and brim with the guy. Then a couple weeks later he called me and said, "You should go to the hospital and get tested for AIDS because I might have given it to you!"

So I went down and got the test, and a week later the test came in positive. After I heard the results, I was feeling very depressed because of the stupid thing I'd done. I didn't tell anybody about it at first because I didn't want anyone to know about it for awhile. Then I told my best friends about it. They understood how I was feeling and they helped me get through the hard times.

At 16 I was undecided about what I should do for the rest of my short life, so I decided to make the best of it and hope they found a cure for the disease. I also wanted to finish up my schooling even though I had no plans of going to college, so I completed the 11th grade. Then I spent a lot of time with my family during the summer vacation doing a lot of things and going on trips and stuff like that.

At 17 I went back to school for my senior year. That year I talked to the students about the AIDS virus, what it is, how you can get it and how to avoid getting it. The teachers thought I was so good they let me give talks at other schools. I went to a lot of schools where there were students who were infected just like me. Some students even stayed later for personal talks with me.l gave these talks until I graduated from high school and have continued giving them up to now. I've been to schools all over the state, and I hope my talks have helped a lot of those teens.

By Garrett Evan