Given six months to live and being the fighter that I am, I set high goals for myself.

Twice a week I would receive injections or IV's of Factor VIII which clotted the blood and then broke it down.

Eventually, I won the right to attend school, but the prejudice was still there.

Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me.

I received thousands of letters of support from all around the world, all because I wanted to go to school.

How could these people in the public eye not be afraid of me, but my whole town was?

I came face to face with death at thirteen years old.