Breaking the taboo

reaking he taboo

I started secondary school. Reading up on my condition, I learnt that there were still a lot of misconceptions about HIV. I wanted to set the record straight, wanted people to know HIV positive people had a voice, too.

So, in 2013 I held an assembly at my school with my consultant.

I told my classmates all about my condition. Then, we held a Q&A session.

As my confidence soared, I began an Instagram profile. IÕm HIV positive , I wrote in the bio. I had nothing to be ashamed of. But as the years passed, I started suffering from complications. Allergic to HIV medication, I was always in and out of hospital.

My weak immune system meant I picked up whatever was going around.

On my 15th birthday, I had to be admitted to Evelina London Children’s Hospital for an AIDSrelated illness after the medication I was on became resistant to my body.

Over the years, I thought about my biological mum a lot. How she’d chosen drugs over me.

But talking to my Mum and my support group helped me.

And, in time, I forgave my biological mum. I realised she had an addiction.

When I started college in September 2017, my confidence took a knock. I really liked a guy in my class. But after we’d texted constantly for a few weeks, he called me one night.

‘You’re HIV positive,’ he gasped, horrified.

I was devastated as he explained he couldn’t date me because of it.

‘Is this what it’s going to be like for the rest of my life?’ I sobbed to my mum. I felt like I was being punished for somethin that wasn’t my fault. Soon after, I was hospitalised again afte an asthma attack. In bed, I thought about how much I wanted to educate people about HIV. I wanted them to know that I – and others of all races, genders and ages living with the condition –deserved love, too.

So, I started a YouTu channel, sharing facts dispelling myths about Then, in January 201 I received some good news. ‘Your viral load is now undetectable,’ my consultant told me.

It meant that, after years of my body resisting medication, the drugs had finally worked. I can’t pass the virus on, even through unprotected sex.

Soon after, in January 2019, I decided to start a business where I design workshops and web seminars on HIV and sexual health. I went into schools to tell kids about my condition.

Thanks to medication, people with HIV can live normal, happy lives.

Just watch me. ‘TOM’ IS NOT HIS REAL NAME. SEE CHANNAN ON YOUTUBE.COM/CHANNAN. WORDS: SASKIA MURPHY, LIANA JACOB. PHOTOS: MEDIADRUMWORLD.COM/CHANNAN WARMINGTON LEWIS MOORE HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease. When the condition was first identified in the 1980s, it was considered a death sentence. Now, while there is still no cure, there are very effective drug treatments that enable most people with the virus to live a long and healthy life. With an early diagnosis and effective treatments, most people with HIV will not develop any AIDS-related illnesses and will live a near-normal lifespan. For more info, visit nhs.uk/conditions/hiv-and-aids/ Now I’m living my life and educating others I was born with the condition