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By sharing your HIV status with others, what gifts did you receive this year?

2 | December | 2011
Shawn

This year the gift that HIV gave me was patience. My partner, Gwenn, is HIV negative and has had a solid three decades of good health thus far on her mortal journey. But this year she has had some health issues come up. I can relate to how it feels to be in doctor's appointments more than you'd like, but she has been used to being on the other side- being the healthy one. I just returned the patience and love she has shown me in the 10-years plus that we have been together, and giving that to her has been the biggest gift I could give this year.

Comments

Submitted by Mildred Quiles (not verified) on January | 19 | 2012.

I am an Hispanic women who is 52 yrs old and I've been Positive since 1984, And I am truly Blessed, Because I allowed to Let HIV stop with me. Not being angry at the world and hurting others with what I have... Being HIV-positive has given me a second chance in life. I appreciate what the world has to offer me. I am fighter for life, not a quitter. I am always willing to share my story, because I once was an IVDU, and I am no longer addicted to drug, I am addicted to life. Thank you for letting me share. Millie

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Infected with HIV as a child through the contaminated blood products used to treat his hemophilia, Shawn learned early in life about discrimination. Within a month of testing positive for the virus, he was kicked out of the 6th grade. By all accounts, he wasn’t expected to live five years. During his freshman year of high school, he met his favorite band, Depeche Mode, through The Make-A-Wish Foundation, and lived to see graduation. At age 20, he opened up about his life with HIV after a decade of silence, creating one of the first "poz blogs" in 1996. After humorously describing his life, he caught the attention of Poz magazine and began writing a column entitled "Positoid", a word he created as a way to describe himself as someone living with HIV.

In 2006, his memoir, My Pet Virus: The True Story of a Rebel Without a Cure, was published by the Penguin Group. Today, Shawn is happily married to his wife partner, Gwenn Barringer, and the two speak together as a couple, educating about how they keep her HIV-free in their safe and healthy relationship. (Hint: condoms.)

In his spare time, Shawn drinks iced mochas and fronts a synthpop duo, Synthetic Division. In 2010, he released a CD to commemorate the twenty-year anniversary of his dying wish to meet Depeche Mode. He lives with Gwenn in Charlottesville, Virginia.