Iván Garrido was born with HIV. Far from being offended or unhappy, he feels fortunate. “I used to be very fortunate to be born with HIV, for me it’s a present and I’ll by no means be grateful sufficient to my mom for it.” Iván has advised his story to the 4 winds as a way to assist folks with HIV. Ending the stigma of this virus is his mission in life.
Iván has had a really laborious childhood, however he’s grateful for being alive. Now he fights for his story to achieve and assist even only one individual. Today, on the age of 32, he presents himself as a psychologist, with HIV from start, an LGTBIQ + activist, CEO of the Kintsugi Project Association and a author.
This Thursday he has participated within the XXVII VIIV Training Conference, Invisible intersections between HIV and psychological well being, organized by ViiV Healthcare, the pharmaceutical firm specializing within the growth of therapies for HIV an infection.
drug dependent dad and mom
Ivan was born in 1991 with HIV. His dad and mom, each drug addicts, met at Proyecto Hombre. His mom, throughout the being pregnant, didn’t take the tablets that might have prevented Iván from getting HIV. From there, his life has handed between hospitals. In 1991 there was no therapy, he was doomed to sure loss of life. But in 1996 got here the antiretroviral therapy that saved his life.
“Entering the hospital for me was getting into a protected place. I fell in love with how they took care of me and the way they handled me. Going residence with such a damaged household was laborious for me and I invented illnesses to return ‘residence’”.
His mom died when he was seven years outdated. She walked into the room and there she was, mendacity on the ground. His solely thought at that second was that his grandmother was okay. “At the age of seven I understood that I did not need to be cared for, however that I needed to be the caregiver, as unfair as that appears,” she says. “It ought to have been my grandmother who hugged me, however she went the opposite approach.”
“Calling 112 was regular for me”
The function of caregiver may be very established in him. Calling 112 was regular for me. I did not suppose life might be any completely different. When I discovered my mom’s physique, I known as that cellphone quantity and guarded my grandmother. This might sound heroic, however it isn’t. They are reversed roles that I preserve dragging. I’ve many sequels, however I’m grateful. Iván Garrido is who he’s now due to how his life has been.
Iván immediately is unable to enter a fitness center or a hairdresser that isn’t LGTBI +. He is afraid that they’ll reject him and damage him once more like in his youth. “I’ve cried, I’ve had an anxiousness assault, I’ve dried my tears and I’ve recorded a humorous video, as a result of I believe that helps folks. I’ve additionally recorded movies crying. There’s nothing incorrect with being weak and that is what I need to convey.”
At the age of 5, a decide determined that Iván ought to go dwell together with his grandparents. In addition, he suffered bullying at college for being homosexual. Many setbacks that removed from sinking him, gave him extra power to stand up. “My grandmother has been indispensable in my life. She advised me to not inform something, that she cover that she was homosexual, that she had HIV, that she not work. She was afraid, however she supported me till the tip.”
One day he went to ask for assist from an affiliation for all of the rejection he had suffered in his life and ended up creating his personal: Kintsugiser Project. He wished to say out loud “I’m Iván Garrido, I used to be born with HIV and I’ve the present of serving to different folks to empower themselves, so I will not change it for something.”
concern and stigma
One in 300 folks has HIV in Spain. About 150,000. “In your workplace, in a disco, in a college. There are folks with HIV round us and you do not know it as a result of they do not say it, as a result of they’re afraid. We have to finish the stigma. It is the second aspect impact of this illness.”
“Only a couple of of us stand as much as shout it out to the entire world. The downside is that society would not have a protected house to take care of it. I believe I assist these folks as a result of I give them a ray of hope. HIV remains to be linked to HIV. AIDS and with loss of life. They see me and say, I’m not going to die tomorrow,” explains the younger man.
Iván desires to make it clear that having HIV doesn’t change you. “You are precisely the identical individual as earlier than the prognosis. HIV is a virus that’s in your DNA, nothing extra. It is a life companion and one of the best factor is to get together with it, study to dwell collectively.”
Having HIV will not be having AIDS. “Fortunately there’s a therapy that makes the virus in your blood undetectable, so whether it is undetectable it’s untransmissible. You can’t transmit one thing you should not have. It is just in your DNA.”
First era born with HIV and alive
“The reality is that we have no idea what’s going to occur. I belong to the primary era that was born with HIV and is alive. I do not thoughts beginning osteoporosis at 50 as an alternative of 70. I’m having such a very good time. I’m having fun with what I’ve a lot, it would have been value it,” she says.
Iván Garrido has a dream, to not be information. “If I cease being fascinating, if my story stops having followers, it would imply that we’ve completed with the stigma. Unfortunately there are nonetheless many individuals who want me. Therefore, I couldn’t be so egocentric to not inform my story. As lengthy because it reaches a single individual, I’ll have achieved it ”, he concludes.
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