Twice a week I would receive injections or IV's of Factor VIII which clotted the blood and then broke it down.
Mayor Koch, of New York, was the first public figure to give me support.
I came face to face with death at thirteen years old.
How could these people in the public eye not be afraid of me, but my whole town was?
On December 17, 1984, I had surgery to remove two inches of my left lung due to pneumonia. After two hours of surgery the doctors told my mother I had AIDS.
Rumors of sneezing, kissing, tears, sweat, and saliva spreading AIDS caused people to panic.