[Viva] HIV/AIDS series: Island woman's life marked by stigma - News - Times Colonist

Wed Sep 4 10:03:32 PDT 2013

I did try to get a hold of her with no response.

On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 8:57 AM, Denise Becker <dbecker106 at gmail.com> wrote:

> The executive may want to consider writing this reply if there is no
> objection from anyone.  It would be good to have it come from ViVA and get
> our name out there as a group of positive women who can be contacted for an
> interview.
> D
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 8:18 AM, anne bonner <thewoodbuffalo at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Um er let me think about it.  When did this article come out?  Does it
>> have to be written right away?  I'm not so good at these things...
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 11:31 AM, Romari <romariundi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> That is a good idea Anne … are you up for it?
>>>
>>> On Aug 27, 2013, at 10:37 AM, anne bonner <thewoodbuffalo at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Also agreed.  Does anyone feel like writing a letter to the editor?
>>> That would be a great venue to clear this issue up.     Because if they are
>>> going to continue writing articles about HIV they need to learn some
>>> sensitivity about the issue.
>>>
>>> Anne
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Margarite Sanchez <
>>> margaritesanchez at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Agreed! It is the old puritanical ethics showing ... and that kind of
>>>> language implies that some people with HIV are guilty and others are
>>>> innocent.  M
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 6:49 AM, Romari <romariundi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thank you Denise for bringing this article to my attention.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't get the Times Colonist but after reading this, I recalled
>>>>> someone mentioned to me that they too had read something about HIV in the
>>>>> aboriginal community recently. I have now done a search and there has been
>>>>> a whole series on HIV in the Times Colonist! It is great that they are
>>>>> giving it this much attention and from several angles.
>>>>>
>>>>> However, I agree with your point about promiscuity! So very irritating
>>>>> that they can write these articles to inform people and hope to reduce
>>>>> stigma and yet mess up there!
>>>>>
>>>>> Romari
>>>>>
>>>>> On Aug 25, 2013, at 8:15 PM, Denise Becker <dbecker106 at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> While I think this is a great article, I do not like this paragraph:
>>>>>
>>>>> The fair-haired, fit-looking woman is a divorced mother with two
>>>>> healthy children, holds a good job and owns her home. She is a heterosexual
>>>>> woman who had none of traditional risk factors for HIV, such as
>>>>> intravenous-drug use or promiscuity, when she was diagnosed.
>>>>>
>>>>> Since when has "promiscuity" been one of the traditional risk factors
>>>>> for a heterosexual woman?  I would think that a traditional risk factor was
>>>>> having sex, not necessarily promiscuity!!!!
>>>>>
>>>>> Denise
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Margarite Sanchez <
>>>>> margaritesanchez at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> If you haven't come across this article yet ...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>>>> From: Roy Parish <royparish at shaw.ca>
>>>>>> Date: Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 9:10 AM
>>>>>> Subject: HIV/AIDS series: Island woman's life marked by stigma - News
>>>>>> - Times Colonist
>>>>>> To: Margarite Sanchez <margaritesanchez at gmail.com>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello Margi
>>>>>> Hope all is well with you and Alvaro.
>>>>>> Spotted this on FB and thought you, of all the friends I know, would
>>>>>> relate.
>>>>>>  Luv
>>>>>> R
>>>>>> xo
>>>>>> 29c today in Vancouver. Fantabulosa, bring it on. I bet your 'girls'
>>>>>> are thriving.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.timescolonist.com/news/hiv-aids-series-island-woman-s-life-marked-by-stigma-1.571638
>>>>>>
>>>>>> HIV/AIDS series: Island woman's life marked by stigma
>>>>>> [image: A3-0807-hiv-clr.jpg]
>>>>>> Nicole, now 30, was diagnosed with HIV at 21. Although she would like
>>>>>> to help combat the stigma attached to HIV, she keeps her illness a secret
>>>>>> from many in her life.  Photograph by: DARREN STONE, Times Colonist
>>>>>>
>>>>>> At age 30, Nicole could be a poster woman for good looks and good
>>>>>> health — except for one issue she feels compelled to keep secret.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While her family and close friends know, she is very careful about
>>>>>> telling others that, at age 21, she was diagnosed with HIV.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The fair-haired, fit-looking woman is a divorced mother with two
>>>>>> healthy children, holds a good job and owns her home. She is a heterosexual
>>>>>> woman who had none of traditional risk factors for HIV, such as
>>>>>> intravenous-drug use or promiscuity, when she was diagnosed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> She’d love to let us use her last name to help lambaste the deep
>>>>>> stigmas that still exist about HIV, the lack of knowledge about how
>>>>>> controllable it is and how hard it would be for women like her to transmit
>>>>>> the virus. But as the sole support of her family and with a boss who has no
>>>>>> idea of her status, she just can’t risk it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Nicole is deeply disturbed by the ungrounded belief in easy
>>>>>> transmission that is still widespread in society. Even some close friends
>>>>>> aren’t keen on her borrowing a hairbrush, or sipping from the same glass.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Having this stigma is so anguishing,” she said. “It takes some of
>>>>>> the quality from my life.”
>>>>>>  Devastating diagnosis
>>>>>>
>>>>>> She has no idea whether the man who passed HIV to her had any idea he
>>>>>> was infected. She found out as a result of routine blood work about 10
>>>>>> years ago. She was so devastated her family doctor had to drive her home.
>>>>>> She was sick at the thought she might never be able to have kids or, worse,
>>>>>> faced imminent death.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Nicole managed to get on with her life. She met her husband, who was
>>>>>> also HIV positive, online. Neither of their children has HIV.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now divorced, Nicole’s deepest wish is to find a partner, a father
>>>>>> figure for her children and a husband unafraid to love her. She has
>>>>>> experienced devastating setbacks on that score. She dated two men and, in
>>>>>> each case, when the time seemed right, she worked up the courage to them
>>>>>> about her status. She explained that experts in the field have assured her
>>>>>> that there is almost no chance she can transmit HIV to others. But, within
>>>>>> 24 hours, each man dropped contact with her.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> That made her feel “discardable,” she said.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “My body has not been affected by [HIV], nor is it expected to. It’s
>>>>>> actually expected to be unaffected for the rest of my life. But my spirit
>>>>>> and my heart have been.”
>>>>>>
>>>>>> That’s why, she said, she wants to fight stigma around HIV.
>>>>>>  New treatment, new hope
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS also wants to get out the
>>>>>> word that taking HAART — a landmark mixture of highly active
>>>>>> anti-retroviral therapy — reduces the level of HIV in the blood and sexual
>>>>>> fluids to undetectable levels, dramatically decreasing the likelihood of
>>>>>> HIV transmission, said Kevin Hollett, the centre’s communications
>>>>>> co-ordinator.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> HIV transmission by heterosexual contact accounted for about 22 per
>>>>>> cent of the 238 new HIV cases in B.C. in 2012 — or about 52 new cases, down
>>>>>> from 75 in 2011.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> That’s far less than the 63 per cent transmitted by men having
>>>>>> unprotected sex with men, but nearly double the 12 per cent transmission
>>>>>> rate via intravenous-drug use, according to figures from the B.C. Centre
>>>>>> for Disease Control.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There’s no reason for Nicole not to have a healthy sexual
>>>>>> relationship without fear of transmitting HIV, said Dr. Julio Montaner, one
>>>>>> of the world’s pre-eminent HIV/AIDS experts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Montaner, a professor of medicine at the University of B.C., said
>>>>>> that thanks to HAART — a therapy that he helped develop — Nicole’s viral
>>>>>> load is undetectable and, as such, it is not possible for her to transmit
>>>>>> HIV to others.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The virus that was often death sentence when Nicole was a child is
>>>>>> now a chronic illness that can be well managed in many people.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Twenty years ago, a woman infected with HIV at age 20 would be told,
>>>>>> ‘Sorry, you have a disease that is going to kill you prematurely, you’re
>>>>>> going to have a very rocky course ahead, you are basically not going to
>>>>>> have a normal reproductive life,’ ” Montaner said.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Today, a 20-year-old woman who comes to my office for the first time
>>>>>> and has an HIV diagnosis, yes, it’s a problem, but we have a strategy. The
>>>>>> treatments are highly effective, they are simple, they are formulated into
>>>>>> one pill once a day, most of the time.”
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A 20-year-old woman diagnosed today with HIV and given
>>>>>> anti-retroviral drugs can expect to live in good health until the age of
>>>>>> 73, Montaner said. He’s hesitant to call it a normal life-span “because
>>>>>> anything that requires treatment, by definition, is not normal. But I
>>>>>> usually [say] near-normal longevity and a very high quality of life.”
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Twenty years ago, Montaner would have had to advise Nicole not to
>>>>>> have children. Now he can say, “You will be there to nurture your children
>>>>>> and you will be there to see your grandchildren.”
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Moreover, B.C. Women’s Hospital researchers have developed a drug
>>>>>> regimen that has prevented births of any HIV-positive babies in B.C. in the
>>>>>> last 15 years to HIV-positive mothers who underwent a full anti-retroviral
>>>>>> regime.
>>>>>>  The toll of stigma
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Even though Nicole has a nice life by anyone’s standards — something
>>>>>> that can’t be said of impoverished injection-drug users, for instance — the
>>>>>> HIV stigma must take a toll on her well-being, said Katrina Jensen,
>>>>>> executive director of AIDS Vancouver Island.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “You can’t underestimate the impact that stigma and discrimination
>>>>>> have on someone’s health … no matter how privileged they may seem. If
>>>>>> they’re part of a group that experiences a lot of stigma, that is bad for
>>>>>> their health,” Jensen said.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As a woman in her childbearing years, Nicole only recently began to
>>>>>> take medication — four pills a day. She continues to have routine blood
>>>>>> work done to monitor her T-cell counts and viral load.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Now that I’m on medication, it is likely I will have undetectable
>>>>>> viral load for the rest of my life,” she said.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As her children grow up, Nicole doesn’t want them to feel there’s
>>>>>> something wrong or shameful about their family. They’re too young to
>>>>>> understand the implications of HIV. She regrets she can’t use her surname
>>>>>> to defy the stigma and help normalize HIV. She’s got a mortgage to pay,
>>>>>> kids to support, a job to do and a public image she doesn’t want to tarnish
>>>>>> by untruths. She’s not willing to be “a sacrificial lamb,” but she wants
>>>>>> people to remember her story when they hear about someone living with HIV.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> kdedyna at timescolonist.com
>>>>>>  A look at the numbers
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of people in Canada living with HIV, including those with
>>>>>> AIDS, in 2011: 71,300
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of people in Canada living with HIV, including those with
>>>>>> AIDS, in 2008: 64,000
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of people in B.C. living with HIV in 2011: 11,700
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of people in B.C. with AIDS in 2011: 70
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of people on Vancouver Island living with HIV in 2012: 888
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of new HIV infections in Canada in 2011: 3,175
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of new HIV infections in B.C. in 2012: 238
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of new HIV diagnoses on Vancouver Island, from 2008 to 2012:
>>>>>> 159
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Rate of new HIV infections in Canada in 2011: 7.6 per 100,000 people
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Rate of new HIV infections in B.C. in 2012: 5.2 per 100,000
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Rate of new HIV infections on Vancouver Island, from 2008 to 2012:
>>>>>> 4.2 per 100,000
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Rate of new HIV infections on Vancouver Island in 2012: 3.4 per
>>>>>> 100,000
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Percentage of cases in B.C. in 2012 in which HIV transmission
>>>>>> caused by:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - gay, bisexual contact: 63
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - heterosexual contact: 22
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - intravenous-drug use: 12
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Annual cost of HAART anti-retroviral treatment: $15,600
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Lifetime cost of HAART anti-retroviral treatment: $500,000
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of HIV blood screens done on pregnant women in B.C. in 2011:
>>>>>> 46,910
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Number of HIV-positive babies born in last 15 years to mothers who
>>>>>> underwent full anti-HIV drug therapy: 0
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Annual deaths due to AIDS in B.C. in 2011: 59
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Annual deaths due to AIDS in B.C. in 1996: 253
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Annual deaths due to AIDS in Canada in 2009: 355
>>>>>>
>>>>>> • Annual deaths due to AIDS in Canada in 1995: 1,764
>>>>>>
>>>>>> *Sources: B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Statistics Canada,
>>>>>> Vancouver Island Health Authority and B.C. Centre for Disease Control, B.C.
>>>>>> Women’s Hospital & Health Centre Foundation*
>>>>>>
>>>>>> © Copyright 2013
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> www.denise-becker.com
>>>>> Queen's Gold Jubilee Medal
>>>>> Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal
>>>>> cell: 250-870-1714
>>>>>  _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>>
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>
>
> --
> www.denise-becker.com
> Queen's Gold Jubilee Medal
> Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal
> cell: 250-870-1714
>
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